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We report details and initial lab test results from an integrated bioanalytical microsystem designed to conduct the first biology experiments beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) since Apollo 17 (1972). The 14-kg, 12 x 24 x 37-cm 3 BioSentinel spacecraft will assay radiation-responsive yeast in its science payload by measuring DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) repaired via homologous recombination, a mechanism common to all eukaryotes including humans. S. cerevisiae (brewer's yeast) in 288 microwells are provided with nutrient and optically assayed for growth and metabolism via 3-color absorptimetry periodically during the ~ 12-monthlong spaceflight mission. BioSentinel, one of several secondary payloads to be deployed by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) as it carries Exploration Mission 1 into space in 2018, will receive commands and telemeter data to Earth from tens of millions of km.

The end-to-end verification of a spacecraft photovoltaic power generation system requires light! A lowcost, portable, and end-to-end photovoltaic-system test appropriate for NASA's new generation of Class D missions is presented. High risk, low-cost, and quick-turn satellites rarely have the resources to execute the traditional approaches from higher-class (A-C) missions. The Class D approach, as demonstrated on the Lunar Atmospheric and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), utilizes a portable, metalhalide, theatre lamp for an end-to-end photovoltaic system test. While not as precise and comprehensive as the traditional Large Area Pulsed Solar Simulator (LAPSS) test, the LADEE method leverages minimal resources into an ongoing assessment program that can be applied through numerous stages of the mission. The project takes a true Class D approach in assessing the technical value of a costly, highfidelity performance test versus a simpler approach with less programmatic risk. The resources required are a fraction of that for a LAPSS test, and is easy to repeat due to its portability. Further, the test equipment can be handed down to future projects without building an on-site facility. At the vanguard of Class D missions, the LADEE team frequently wrestled with and challenged the status quo. The philosophy of risk avoidance at all cost, typical to Class A-C missions, simply could not be executed. This innovative and simple testing solution is contextualized to NASA Class D programs and a specific risk encountered during development of the LADEE Electrical Power System (EPS). Selection of the appropriate lamp and safety concerns are discussed, with examples of test results. Combined with the vendor's panellevel data and periodic inspection, the method ensures system integrity from Integration and Test (I&T) through launch. Following launch, mission operations tools are utilized to assess system performance based on a scant amount of available data.

In this paper we describe a potential new Explorer-class space mission, the AstroBiology Explorer (ABE), consisting of a relatively modest dedicated space observatory having a 50 cm aperture primary mirror which is passively cooled to T<65 K, resides in a low-background orbit (heliocentric orbit at i AU, Earth drift-away), and is equipped with a suite of three moderate order (m~10) dispersive spectrographs equipped with first-order cross-dispersers in an "echel lette" configuration and large format (1024x1024 pixel) near-and mid-IR detector arrays cooled by a modest amount of cryogen. Such a systemwould be capable of addressing outstanding problems in Astrochemistry and Astrophysics that are particularly relevant to Astrobiology and addressable via astronomical observation.The observational program of this mission would make fundamental scientific progress in each of the key areas of the cosmic history of molecular carbon, the distribution and chemistry of organic compounds in the diffuse and dense interstellar media, and the evolution of ices and organic matter in young planetary systems. ABE could make fundamental progress in all of these areas by conducting an approximately one year mission to obtain a coordinated set of infrared spectroscopic observations over the 2.5-20 tim spectral range at spectral resolutions of R > 1000 of approximately 1000 galaxies, stars, planetary nebulae, and young star planetary systems. Keywords:Astrobiology, infrared spectroscopy, Explorers, interstellar organics, telescope, spectrometer 1, INTRODUCTIONThe field of Astrobiology, the study of the origin, evolution, and future of life in the universe, has received considerable attention in recent years. One of the principal overlaps between astrophysics and astrobiology is in the area of quantifying the role that interstellar materials may play in the origin of life. Tremendous strides have been made in our understanding of interstellar material over the past fifteen years thanks to parallel developments in observational astronomy and laboratory astrophysics. Dust in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) is now known to consist largely of cold refractory materials comprised of amorphous and crystalline silicates mixed with an amorphous carbonaceous material containing aromatic structural units and short, branched aliphatic chains. In the dense ISM, these cold dust particles are coated with mixed molecular ices, of which the major constituents are known. Lastly, the signature of carbon-rich polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is widespread throughout the ISM. These organics and ices play a central role in the chemistry of dense, dark molecular clouds-with the ices acting as both reservoir and reaction center for the species detected in the gas; and together with the organics, setting the stage for the chemistry that occurs when stars, planets, and ultimately life form.This great progress has only been made possible by the close collaboration of observers with laboratory experimentalists, all with the goal of applying th...