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Next year, NASA's Artemis 1 mission will carry a dozen small bakery cubesats in space, including one that houses a colony of yeast cells. This cube, BioSentinel, will orbit the sun to help scientists understand how the radiation of space affects living organisms outside the low Earth orbit. NASA has not sent any form of life past the low Earth orbit since Apollo's last landing in 1972. (This is intentionally a key word, because of course, each probe launched carries an accidental microbial contamination.)
But Apollo 17 lasted less than two weeks. BioSentinel will collect data over a period of nine to twelve months, opening a window to the long-term effects of far-field radiation on DNA and DNA repair …
The 30 lb (14 kg) satellite will carry two different varieties of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae: the "wild type", which is fairly resistant to radiation, and the mutant type, which is much more sensitive because it can not repair its DNA as well .
"Significantly, the process of repairing yeast DNA damage is very similar to that of humans, making it a robust translation model," NASA officials wrote. on the BioSentinel information sheet. "The results of BioSentinel will be essential for interpreting the effects of radiation exposure in space, reducing the risk associated with long-term human exploration and validating existing models of radiation effects in the future." the space on living organisms. "
From NASA:
The microfluidic BioSentinel map (seen above), designed by NASA Ames, will be used to study the impact of interplanetary space radiation on yeast. Once in orbit, the growth and metabolic activity of the yeast will be measured using a 3-color LED detection system and a metabolic indicator dye.
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David Pescovitz
David Pescovitz is the co-publisher of Boing Boing. On Instagram he is @pesco.
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