{"id":36924,"date":"2019-06-26T13:14:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T17:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=36924"},"modified":"2019-07-03T11:44:29","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T15:44:29","slug":"early-space-bio-experiments-detailed-in-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=36924","title":{"rendered":"Early Space Bio-Experiments Detailed in New Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Contributed content –<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Harrison<\/a>
Astronaut and geologist Harrison Schmitt with the lunar lander and rover during the Apollo 17 mission. (NASA.gov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

26 June 2019. Editor\u2019s note: A new book by David Warmflash, MD tells about interactions and experiences of humans with the moon, from legends and myths in ancient civilizations to projections for future colonies. Many of today’s biological experiments in space, on which we report in Science & Enterprise, can be traced to efforts by scientists working with early satellites and on Apollo missions that Warmflash describes and illustrates in his publication. Here are examples from the book.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOn January 31, 1958, the ABMA-JPL [Army Ballistic Missile Agency – Joint Propulsion Laboratory] team launched the satellite Explorer I into an orbit higher than either of the two Soviet missions. Featuring a cosmic ray detector designed by University of Iowa physicist James Van Allen (1914\u20132006), Explorer I detected radiation particles trapped in certain regions and altitudes by Earth\u2019s magnetic field. This led Van Allen to propose the existence of radiation belts that later would be vital to the planning of piloted lunar missions.\u201d (p. 121)<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in the late 1950s, NASA had known that using the most direct trajectory to the Moon would expose astronauts to potentially lethal doses of radiation\u2014protons and heavy ions, also called HZE particles, that have been trapped by the geomagnetosphere. Considering fuel, the inclination of the Moon\u2019s orbit around Earth, shielding capability of the Apollo hull, and the geometry of the belts, the solution was a trajectory that traversed only the corner of the inner belt, very rapidly, avoiding its most lethal radiation entirely, and that took astronauts through a fairly narrow region of the outer belt for just a few hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis minimized exposure to trapped radiation, but did not eliminate it. Furthermore, outside the belts, space is full of un-trapped HZE particles, which exist as components of two types of deep-space radiation. One type, called solar particle events (SPEs), produces many low-energy HZEs periodically. The other type, called galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), includes smaller numbers of HZEs, but they are highly energetic and always present in the space between the outer Van Allen Belt and the Moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was unknown to what degree HZE particles from the outer belt and from GCR would affect life forms. To study the issue, European scientists sent Biostack I and Biostack II, experiments respectively in the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 command modules. Researchers measured HZE exposure in numerous biological species, including Artemia salina<\/em> shrimp eggs, spores of Bacillus subtilis<\/em> bacteria, and Arabidopsis thaliana<\/em> plant seeds. HZE particles did not harm B. subtilis<\/em> spores, nor did Arabidopsis seeds fare worse than control seeds on the ground, although the shrimp eggs exposed to HZEs in space proved more sensitive than the other organisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Apollo 17, very few biological experiments have even flown outside the Van Allen belts. As for humans in deep space, there are very few data. Studies hint that there are reasons to be concerned about flights beyond LEO possibly elevating risks for cancer and cardiovascular conditions, cataracts, and other long-term effects, but the issue requires more study and we may not know the limits of human radiation tolerance until we return to the Moon and establish bases.\u201d (p. 185)<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

\"Book<\/a>
(Sterling Publishing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moon: An Illustrated History: From Ancient Myths to the Colonies of Tomorrow<\/a> (Sterling Illustrated Histories)<\/p>\n

David Warmflash
\nHardcover: 224 pages
\nPublisher: Sterling; Illustrated edition (May 7, 2019)
\nLanguage: English
\nISBN-10: 1454931981
\nISBN-13: 978-1454931980<\/p>\n

Kindle edition
\nFile Size: 33227 KB
\nPrint Length: 224 pages
\nPublisher: Sterling (May 7, 2019)
\nPublication Date: May 7, 2019
\nSold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
\nLanguage: English
\nASIN: B07JNSF5C6<\/p>\n

Updated, 3 July 2019: <\/em>The book is also listed on Barnes & Noble<\/a> and IndieBound<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More from Science & Enterprise:<\/p>\n