SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Extraterrestrial Environment”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources

PubMed1999

Structure and NIR feature of QCC: a laboratory analog of carbon dust.

We have produced thin films of quenched carbonaceous composite (QCC) by hydrocarbon plasma deposition. The effect of thermal annealing on QCC has been investigated to understand how QCC, as a laboratory analog of carbon dust, is transformed in the warm environment around evolved stars. Spectroscopic measurements have indicated that, by heating, the proportion of aromatic sp2 CH bonds increases relative to sp3 CH bonds. Carbon onion-like spherules of approximately 10 nm in diameter are found with electron microscopic images after "graphitization" of thermal annealing.

Astronomical Phenomena↗

PubMed1999

Implication of microdosimetry in estimation of radiation quality in space environment.

Errors introduced using a tissue equivalent proportional counter to estimate radiation quality of an arbitrary ion field as related to space radiations are examined. This is accomplished by using a generalized analytic model to calculate the effect of energy loss straggling, track structure, and pathlength distribution on the microdosimetric distribution. The error can be as large as a factor of two, but no systematic trend could be found.

Extraterrestrial Environment↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Simulation of physical and biological aspects of GCR in ground-based experiments.

Many aspects of the interplanetary radiation environment can be simulated using high-energy charged-particle beams at ground based accelerator facilities. Some of the criteria and parameters used to define science requirements for such simulations are discussed. Some results from a ground-based radiation transport experiment are used to illustrate these considerations.

Acceleration↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Radiation: risk and protection in manned space flight.

Space radiation is the primary source of hazard for orbital and interplanetary space flight. Radiation levels for different space mission durations, have been established in order to determine the level of hazard. The risk of exceeding the established levels should not be more than 1%. Radiation environment models have been developed to estimate these values. It is possible to build spacecraft shielding based on the calculation of doses and the risk of exceeding these. By reviewing various calculated estimates of the risk, the radiation hazard and the efficiency of protective measures can be established for specific flights.

Aerospace Medicine↗

PubMed1996

Planetary protection program for Mars 94/96 mission.

Mars surface in-situ exploration started in 1975 with the American VIKING mission. Two probes landed on the northern hemisphere and provided, for the first time, detailed information on the martian terrain, atmosphere and meteorology. The current goal is to undertake larger surface investigations and many projects are being planned by the major Space Agencies with this objective. Among these projects, the Mars 94/96 mission will make a major contributor toward generating significant information about the martian surface on a large scale. Since the beginning of the Solar System exploration, planets where life could exist have been subject to planetary protection requirements. Those requirements accord with the COSPAR Policy and have two main goals: the protection of the planetary environment from influence or contamination by terrestrial microorganisms, the protection of life science, and particularly of life detection experiments searching extra-terrestrial life, and not life carried by probes and spacecrafts. As the conditions for life and survival for terrestrial microorganisms in the Mars environment became known, COSPAR recommendations were updated. This paper will describe the decontamination requirements which will be applied for the MARS 94/96 mission, the techniques and the procedures which are and will be used to realize and control the decontamination of probes and spacecrafts.

Containment of Biohazards↗

PubMed2006

Impact craters as biospheric microenvironments, Lawn Hill Structure, Northern Australia.

Impact craters on Mars act as traps for eolian sediment and in the past may have provided suitable microenvironments that could have supported and preserved a stressed biosphere. If this is so, terrestrial impact structures such as the 18-km-diameter Lawn Hill Structure, in northern Australia, may prove useful as martian analogs. We sampled outcrop and drill core from the carbonate fill of the Lawn Hill Structure and recorded its gamma-log signature. Facies data along with whole rock geochemistry and stable isotope signatures show that the crater fill is an outlier of the Georgina Basin and was formed by impact at, or shortly before, approximately 509-506 million years ago. Subsequently, it was rapidly engulfed by the Middle Cambrian marine transgression, which filled it with shallow marine carbonates and evaporites. The crater formed a protected but restricted microenvironment in which sediments four times the thickness of the nearby basinal succession accumulated. Similar structures, common on the martian surface, may well have acted as biospheric refuges as the planet's water resources declined. Low-pH aqueous environments on Earth similar to those on Mars, while extreme, support diverse ecologies. The architecture of the eolian crater fill would have been defined by long-term ground water cycles resulting from intermittent precipitation in an extremely arid climate. Nutrient recycling, critical to a closed lacustrine sub-ice biosphere, could be provided by eolian transport onto the frozen water surface.

Ecosystem↗

PubMed2006

Enceladus' varying imprint on the magnetosphere of Saturn.

The bombardment of Saturn's moon Enceladus by >20-kiloelectron volt magnetospheric particles causes particle flux depletions in regions magnetically connected to its orbit. Irrespective of magnetospheric activity, proton depletions are persistent, whereas electron depletions are quickly erased by magnetospheric processes. Observations of these signatures by Cassini's Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument allow remote monitoring of Enceladus' gas and dust environments. This reveals substantial outgassing variability at the moon and suggests increased dust concentrations at its Lagrange points. The characteristics of the particle depletions additionally provide key radial diffusion coefficients for energetic electrons and an independent measure of the inner magnetosphere's rotation velocity.

Atmosphere↗

PubMed2006

Polyynes and cyanopolyynes: their synthesis with the carbon arc gives the same abundances occurring in carbon-rich stars.

Carbon vapour generated from a carbon arc or by laser ablation of graphite is reactive with simple molecules and atoms producing end-capped polyyne chains. With these techniques both hydrogen-terminated polyynes as well as monocyano- and dicyanopolyynes have been produced. Experiments based on arcing graphite electrodes can reproduce the molecular distribution of polyynes existing around carbon-rich AGB stars. In fact, it has been found that the relative abundances of the polyynes produced in carbon arc in vacuum decreases by a factor between 3 and 5 as the chain length increases by a C(2) unit. An analogous trend has been observed both for polyynes and cyanopolyynes in the circumstellar environment around carbon-rich stars. This fact suggests that the mechanism of formation of the polyynes in the carbon arc may be similar to that occurring in the surroundings of the carbon-rich stars. Polyynes and cyanopolyynes represent authentic prebiotic molecules which appear quite ubiquitous in the cosmos and should have played a role in the early organic chemistry preceding the appearance of life.

Carbon↗

PubMed1989

New emission features in the 11-13 micron region and their relationship to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

If the "11.3 microns" emission feature seen in the spectra of many planetary nebulae, H II regions, and reflection nebulae is due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), then additional features should be present between 11.3 and 13.0 microns (885 and 770 cm-1). Moderate-resolution spectra of NGC 7027, HD 44179, IRAS 21282+5050, and BD + 30 degrees 3639 are presented which show that the "11.3 microns" feature actually peaks at 11.22 microns (891 cm-1). The spectra also show evidence of new emission features near 11.9 and 12.7 microns (840 and 787 cm-1). These are consistent with an origin from PAHs and can be used to constrain the molecular structure of the family of PAHs responsible for the infrared features. The observed asymmetry of the "11.3 microns" band is consistent with the slight anharmonicity expected in the C--H out-of-plane bending mode in PAHs. Laboratory experiments show that the intensity of this mode relative to the higher frequency modes depends on the extent of molecular "clustering." The observed strengths of the "11.3 microns" interstellar bands relative to the higher frequency bands are most consistent with the features originating from free molecular PAHs. The intensity and profile of the underlying broad structure, however, may well arise from PAH clusters and amorphous carbon particles. Analysis of the 11-13 microns (910-770 cm-1) emission suggests that the molecular structures of the most intensity emitting free PAHs vary somewhat between the high-excitation environment in NGC 7027 and the low-excitation but high-flux environment close to HD 44179. Finally, a previously undetected series of regularly spaced features between 10 and 11 microns (1000 and 910 cm-1) in the spectrum of HD 44179 suggests that a simple polyatomic hydride is present in the gas phase in this object.

Astronomical Phenomena↗

PubMed1967

Effect of reduced barometric pressure on water availability related to microbial growth.

Data obtained from Mariner IV indicate that the barometric pressure on Mars is considerably lower than previously estimated. Current estimates from Mariner IV indicate a range from 4 to 7 mb and by near infrared spectroscopy 33-56 mb. Inasmuch as the pressure has a marked influence on availability of water, this should affect the existence of Martian life. At the maximum temperatures recorded on Mars, namely 25 degrees C, a barometric pressure of 30 mb is required for the retention of free water. The lower pressure, 4 mb, would suggest that the moisture is present as a vapor above the freezing point and consequently it is not available for utilizing by living cells. The lower estimates of barometric pressure also inversely affect the carbon dioxide concentration in the Martian atmosphere. Our previous studies have demonstrated that spores of Bacillus cereus survive, germinate and grow in a simulated Martian environment (2.4% CO2, 98 mb) supplemented with moisture. The studies described in this paper were designed to determine the effect of low barometric pressures (10 to 98 mb Hg) and high concentrations of carbon dioxide (37 to 100%) in the simulated Martian environment on survival and growth of B cereus. The organism was inoculated into a felsite-limonite soil at 8% moisture level. The temperature cycles used were 8 hr at -65 degrees C and 16 hr at 25 degrees C, or 20 hr at -65 degrees C and 4 hr at 25 degrees C. The data suggest that the organism after achieving maximum growth in the simulated Martian environment (2.4% CO2, 98 mb) immediately enters into the growth phase upon reinoculation into fresh soil. These data reflect upon the possibility of contamination through air movements. Based upon currently available Martian environmental data, the probability of contamination of Mars by terrestrial micro-organisms will be discussed.

Atmosphere↗

PubMed1998

Martian "microfossils" in lunar meteorites?

One of the five lines of evidence used by McKay et al. (1996) for relic life in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 was the presence of objects thought to be microfossils. These ovoid and elongated forms are similar to structures found in terrestrial rocks and described as "nanobacteria" (Folk, 1993; McBride et al., 1994). Using the same procedures and apparatus as McKay et al. (1996), we have found structures on internal fracture surfaces of lunar meteorites that cannot be distinguished from the objects described on similar surfaces in ALH 84001. The lunar surface is currently a sterile environment and probably always has been. However, the lunar and Martian meteorites share a common terrestrial history, which includes many thousands of years of exposure to Antarctic weathering. Although we do not know the origin of these ovoid and elongated forms, we suggest that their presence on lunar meteorites indicates that the objects described by McKay et al. (1996) are not of Martian biological origin.

Exobiology↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Meteorite organics in planetary environments: hydrothermal release, surface activity, and microbial utilization.

Up to 50% of the organics in the Murchison meteorite, possibly including some of the polymer, is released in high temperature and pressure aqueous environments, to 350 degrees C and 250 bar, that simulate submarine volcanic, hydrothermal or impact-induced conditions. Meteorite organics of prebiotic significance, such as nonanoic acid, glycine, and pyrene survive the hydrothermal conditions. The released material is surface active with surface pressures up to 19.8 x 10(-3) N m-1, and exhibits an extended surface tension isotherm which suggests a mixture of amphiphilic components. One component, nonanoic acid, is shown to form vesicles. The materials extracted under mild conditions, at 120 degrees C, are nutrients for the humic acid bacterium Pseudomonas maltophilia and efficient nutrients for the oligotroph Flavobacterium oryzihabitans, demonstrating the capability of microorganisms to metabolize extraterrestrial organics.

Carbon↗

PubMed1995

Observations of chemical processing in the circumstellar environment.

High resolution interferometer and single-dish observations of young, deeply embedded stellar systems reveal a complex chemistry in the circumstellar environments of low to intermediate mass stars. Depletions of gas-phase molecules, grain mantle evaporation, and shock interactions actively drive chemical processes in different regions around young stars. We present results for two systems, IRAS 05338-0624 and NCG 1333 IRAS 4, to illustrate the behavior found and to examine the physical processes at work.

Astronomical Phenomena↗

PubMed2005

Jets, hotspots and lobes: what X-ray observations tell us about extra-galactic radio sources.

The brightest and most numerous discrete radio sources in the sky, radio galaxies and quasars, are powered by twin jets of plasma which emerge at relativistic speeds from very small regions at the centre of large elliptical galaxies, powered by mass infall on to supermassive black holes. The jets can carry material out to very large distances (millions of light years) where it forms balloon-like lobes. Until recently it has been impossible to make definite statements about the energy or the nature of the matter supplied by the jets, or the dynamics of the lobes as they expand into the external medium. This has meant that crucial questions about the generation of radio sources and their effect on their environment have gone unanswered. The situation has been revolutionized by the launch at the start of this decade of a new generation of X-ray observatories, Chandra and XMM-Newton. In this article, I explain why observations with these instruments have made such a difference, what we have learned as a result and why the community remains divided on some important features of the interpretation of the data.

Astronomy↗

PubMed2002

Mars inflatable greenhouse analog.

Light intensities on the Martian surface can possibly support a bioregenerative life support system (BLSS) utilizing natural sunlight for hydroponic crop production, if a suitable controlled environment can be provided. Inflatable clear membrane structures offer low mass, are more easily transported than a rigid structure, and are good candidates for providing a suitable controlled environment for crop production. Cable culture is one hydroponic growing system that can take advantage of the beneficial attributes of the inflatable structure. An analog of a Mars inflatable greenhouse can provide researchers data on issues such as crew time requirements for operation, productivity for BLSS, human factors, and much more at a reasonable cost. This is a description of one such design.

Ecological Systems, Closed↗

PubMed2003

Study of the radiation environment on MIR space station with SILEYE-2 experiment.

In this work we present preliminary results of nuclear composition measurements on board space station MIR obtained with SILEYE-2 particle telescope. SILEYE-2 was placed on MIR in 1997 and has been working since then. It consists of an array of 6 active silicon strip detectors which allow nuclear and energetic identification of cosmic rays in the energy range between approximately 30 and 200 MeV/n. The device is attached to an helmet and connected to an eye mask which shields the cosmonaut eyes from light and allow studies of the Light Flashes (LF) phenomenon. In addition to the study of the causes of LF, the device is used to perform real time long term radiation environment monitoring inside the MIR, performing measurements in solar quiet and active days.

Cosmic Radiation↗

PubMed1998

The cosmic environment for the growth of complexity.

The unifying scenario fo cosmic evolution is outlined by following the natural changes among radiation, matter and life in standard, big-bang cosmology. Using aspects of non equilibrium thermodynamics, especially energy flow considerations, we argue that it is the contrasting temporal behavior of various energy densities that have given rise to the environments needed for the emergence of galaxies, stars, planets, and life forms. We furthermore argue that a necessary (though perhaps not sufficient) condition--a veritable prime mover--for the emergence of such ordered structures of growing complexity is the expansion of the Universe itself. Neither demonstrably new science nor appeals to non-science are needed to explain the impressive hierarchy of generative change, from atoms to galaxies, from cells to society.

Biological Evolution↗

PubMed1999

Impact of microgravity on radiobiological processes and efficiency of DNA repair.

To study the influence of microgravity on radiobiological processes in space, space experiments have been performed, using an on-board 1xg reference centrifuge as in-flight control. The trajectory of individual heavy ions was localized in relation to the biological systems by use of the Biostack concept, or an additional high dose of radiation was applied either before the mission or during the mission from an on-board radiation source. In embryonic systems, such as early developmental stages of Drosophila melanogaster and Carausius morosus, the occurrence of chromosomal translocations and larval malformations was dramatically increased in response to microgravity and radiation. It has been hypothesized that these synergistic effects might be caused by an interference of microgravity with DNA repair processes. However, recent studies on bacteria, yeast cells and human fibroblasts suggest that a disturbance of cellular repair processes in the microgravity environment might not be a complete explanation for the reported synergism of radiation and microgravity. As an alternative explanation, an impact of microgravity on signal transduction, on the metabolic/physiological state or on the chromatin structure at the cellular level, or modification of self-assembly, intercellular communication, cell migration, pattern formation or differentiation at the tissue and organ level should be considered.

Animals↗