The Biosentinel Bioanalytical Microsystem: Characterizing  Dna Radiation Damage in Living Organisms Beyond Earth Orbit

Ricco, Antonio J.; Hanel, Robert P.; Bhattacharya, Sharmila; Boone, Travis; Tan, Ming X.; Mousavi, Aliyeh; Rademacher, Abraham; Schooley, Aaron; Klamm, Benjamin; Benton, Joshua; Padgen, Michael R.; Gentry, Diana; Friedericks, C.; Defouw, Greg; Parra, M.; Maria, Sergio R. Santa; Marina, Diana; Swan, B. G.; Wheeler, S.; Gavalas, S.; Lewis, Brian; Sanchez, Hugo Santiago; Chartres, James; Lusby, Terry C.

doi:10.31438/trf.hh2016.95

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Table 1 catalogs the target organisms and measured parameters for a series of past biological experiments in orbit, enabled by small satellite payloads including GeneSat-1 [13][14][15], PharmaSat 1 [16][17][18], O/OREOS [19][20][21][22], EcAMSat [23][24][25], and Biosentinel [26][27][28][29][30]. These satellites predominantly featured optical absorbance sensors to track microbial growth.…”

Section: Prior Research and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Modal Multi-Array Electrochemical and Optical Sensor Suite for a Biological CubeSat Payload

Kim,

Park,

Pak

2024

Sensors

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CubeSats have emerged as cost-effective platforms for biological research in low Earth orbit (LEO). However, they have traditionally been limited to optical absorbance sensors for studying microbial growth. This work has made improvements to the sensing capabilities of these small satellites by incorporating electrochemical ion-selective pH and pNa sensors with optical absorbance sensors to enrich biological experimentation and greatly expand the capabilities of these payloads. We have designed, built, and tested a multi-modal multi-array electrochemical-optical sensor module and its ancillary systems, including a fluidic card and an on-board payload computer with custom firmware. Laboratory tests showed that the module could endure high flow rates (1 mL/min) without leakage, and the 27-well, 81-electrode sensor card accurately detected pH (71.0 mV/pH), sodium ion concentration (75.2 mV/pNa), and absorbance (0.067 AU), with the sensors demonstrating precise linear responses (R2 ≈ 0.99) in various test solutions. The successful development and integration of this technology conclude that CubeSat bio-payloads are now poised for more complex and detailed investigations of biological phenomena in space, marking a significant enhancement of small-satellite research capabilities.

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Section: Prior Research and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Modal Multi-Array Electrochemical and Optical Sensor Suite for a Biological CubeSat Payload

Kim,

Park,

Pak

2024

Sensors

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“…The first of these CubeSats should go up a year or two from now. BioSentinel is a six-liter spacecraft built at NASA's Ames research center in Moffett Field, California (1). "We at Ames have been the only ones clever or foolish enough to do live biology experiments on CubeSats," says payload technologist Tony Ricco. So far the team has flown four biological CubeSat missions.…”

Section: Small Sentinelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

CubeSats set to tackle living systems, effects of deep space radiation

Battersby¹

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The SpectroCube mission seeks to access harsh radiation environments beyond Low Earth orbit on a low-cost nanosatellite platform, which is becoming a viable option due to upcoming launch opportunities as a piggyback payload. Furthermore, SpectroCube will provide a testbed for radiation hardened technologies for use on future deep space platforms and will be amongst the first deep space/interplanetary CubeSats with a scientific payload [18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SpectroCube: a European 6U nanosatellite spectroscopy platform for astrobiology and astrochemistry

Elsaesser

Merenda²,

Lindner

et al. 2020

Acta Astronautica

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SpectroCube is a CubeSat-based miniaturised in-situ space exposure platform for astrochemistry and astrobiology research. Within a 6U nanosatellite structure, an infrared spectrometer is interfaced with a sample handling system to measure photochemical changes of organic molecules, representing importing biomarkers for the detection of life in our solar system and beyond. Monitoring degradation profiles and photochemical reaction kinetics of such biomarkers allows to identify suitable search targets for current and future planetary exploration and life-detection missions. SpectroCube is designed to be launched into a highly elliptical orbit around Earth and therefore allows to expose samples to higher solar UV and energetic particle radiation levels than previous exposure platforms in low Earth orbit, as for example on the International Space Station. In-situ data will be telemetered back to Earth and compared with ground-based laboratory solar and planetary simulation experiments. We here present the design of SpectroCube, the scientific payload and its subsystems. We can demonstrate that with the miniaturisation potential of infrared spectroscope it is possible to fit the entire optical setup plus a sample handling system for up to 60 individually contained and hermetically sealed samples within less than half of the volume of a 6U CubeSat structure, so that the remaining volume could be entirely used for additional subsystems such as attitude control, propulsion, fuel, onboard computer and telemetry. The design of the scientific payload is based on a commercial off-the-shelf miniaturised Fouriertransform spectrometer consisting of an infrared light source, an interferometer and infrared detector units. The mechanical robustness and suitability of such a system for space applications was assessed. Shock and vibration testing of the mechanically most sensitive unit, the interferometer, was performed and revealed that with adequate damping the spectroscopic performance can be maintained. Additional measurements of test samples conducted with the selected commercial off-the-shelf spectrometer candidate showed that the spectroscopic range, resolution and sensitivity is capable to monitor in situ the photochemical kinetics of important classes of organic molecules and biomarkers for astrobiology and astrochemistry research.

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The Biosentinel Bioanalytical Microsystem: Characterizing Dna Radiation Damage in Living Organisms Beyond Earth Orbit

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Multi-Modal Multi-Array Electrochemical and Optical Sensor Suite for a Biological CubeSat Payload

Multi-Modal Multi-Array Electrochemical and Optical Sensor Suite for a Biological CubeSat Payload

CubeSats set to tackle living systems, effects of deep space radiation

SpectroCube: a European 6U nanosatellite spectroscopy platform for astrobiology and astrochemistry

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