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NASA’s BioSentinel Studies Solar Radiation as Earth Watches Aurora
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By NASA
Scientists find that cometary dust affects interpretation of spacecraft measurements, reopening the case for comets like 67P as potential sources of water for early Earth.
Researchers have found that water on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has a similar molecular signature to the water in Earth’s oceans. Contradicting some recent results, this finding reopens the case that Jupiter-family comets like 67P could have helped deliver water to Earth.
Water was essential for life to form and flourish on Earth and it remains central for Earth life today. While some water likely existed in the gas and dust from which our planet materialized around 4.6 billion years ago, much of the water would have vaporized because Earth formed close to the Sun’s intense heat. How Earth ultimately became rich in liquid water has remained a source of debate for scientists.
Research has shown that some of Earth’s water originated through vapor vented from volcanoes; that vapor condensed and rained down on the oceans. But scientists have found evidence that a substantial portion of our oceans came from the ice and minerals on asteroids, and possibly comets, that crashed into Earth. A wave of comet and asteroid collisions with the solar system’s inner planets 4 billion years ago would have made this possible.
This image, taken by ESA’s Rosetta navigation camera, was taken from a about 53 miles from the center of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on March 14, 2015. The image resolution is 24 feet per pixel and is cropped and processed to bring out the details of the comet’s activity. ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM While the case connecting asteroid water to Earth’s is strong, the role of comets has puzzled scientists. Several measurements of Jupiter-family comets — which contain primitive material from the early solar system and are thought to have formed beyond the orbit of Saturn — showed a strong link between their water and Earth’s. This link was based on a key molecular signature scientists use to trace the origin of water across the solar system.
This signature is the ratio of deuterium (D) to regular hydrogen (H) in the water of any object, and it gives scientists clues about where that object formed. Deuterium is a rare, heavier type — or isotope — of hydrogen. When compared to Earth’s water, this hydrogen ratio in comets and asteroids can reveal whether there’s a connection.
Because water with deuterium is more likely to form in cold environments, there’s a higher concentration of the isotope on objects that formed far from the Sun, such as comets, than in objects that formed closer to the Sun, like asteroids.
Measurements within the last couple of decades of deuterium in the water vapor of several other Jupiter-family comets showed similar levels to Earth’s water.
“It was really starting to look like these comets played a major role in delivering water to Earth,” said Kathleen Mandt, planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Mandt led the research, published in Science Advances on Nov. 13, that revises the abundance of deuterium in 67P.
About Kathleen Mandt
But in 2014, ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosetta mission to 67P challenged the idea that Jupiter-family comets helped fill Earth’s water reservoir. Scientists who analyzed Rosetta’s water measurements found the highest concentration of deuterium of any comet, and about three times more deuterium than there is in Earth’s oceans, which have about 1 deuterium atom for every 6,420 hydrogen atoms.
“It was a big surprise and it made us rethink everything,” Mandt said.
Mandt’s team decided to use an advanced statistical-computation technique to automate the laborious process of isolating deuterium-rich water in more than 16,000 Rosetta measurements. Rosetta made these measurements in the “coma” of gas and dust surrounding 67P. Mandt’s team, which included Rosetta scientists, was the first to analyze all of the European mission’s water measurements spanning the entire mission.
The researchers wanted to understand what physical processes caused the variability in the hydrogen isotope ratios measured at comets. Lab studies and comet observations showed that cometary dust could affect the readings of the hydrogen ratio that scientists detect in comet vapor, which could change our understanding of where comet water comes from and how it compares to Earth’s water.
What are comets made of? It’s one of the questions ESA’s Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko wanted to answer. “So I was just curious if we could find evidence for that happening at 67P,” Mandt said. “And this is just one of those very rare cases where you propose a hypothesis and actually find it happening.”
Indeed, Mandt’s team found a clear connection between deuterium measurements in the coma of 67P and the amount of dust around the Rosetta spacecraft, showing that the measurements taken near the spacecraft in some parts of the coma may not be representative of the composition of a comet’s body.
As a comet moves in its orbit closer to the Sun, its surface warms up, causing gas to release from the surface, including dust with bits of water ice on it. Water with deuterium sticks to dust grains more readily than regular water does, research suggests. When the ice on these dust grains is released into the coma, this effect could make the comet appear to have more deuterium than it has.
Mandt and her team reported that by the time dust gets to the outer part of the coma, at least 75 miles from the comet body, it is dried out. With the deuterium-rich water gone, a spacecraft can accurately measure the amount of deuterium coming from the comet body.
This finding, the paper authors say, has big implications not only for understanding comets’ role in delivering Earth’s water, but also for understanding comet observations that provide insight into the formation of the early solar system.
“This means there is a great opportunity to revisit our past observations and prepare for future ones so we can better account for the dust effects,” Mandt said.
By Lonnie Shekhtman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Dec 03, 2024 Editor Lonnie Shekhtman Contact Lonnie Shekhtman lonnie.shekhtman@nasa.gov Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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The Milky Way pictured from the International Space Station in a long-duration photographCredits: NASA NASA and its commercial partners continue to drive innovation in space exploration, achieving milestones that will ultimately benefit human spaceflight and commercial low Earth orbit efforts. These recent achievements from NASA’s industry partners include completed safety milestones, successful flight tests, and major technological advancements.
“Our commercial partners’ growing capabilities in low Earth orbit underscore NASA’s commitment to advance scientific discovery, pioneering space technology, and support future deep space exploration,” said Angela Hart, manager of the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
As NASA expands opportunities in low Earth orbit, the agency is working with seven U.S. companies to meet future commercial and government needs through the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities initiative.
The first and second stages of Blue Origin’s New Glenn test vehicle pictured at the company’s orbital launch vehicle factory in Cape Canaveral, FloridaCredits: Blue Origin Blue Origin
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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft pictured approaching the International Space StationCredits: NASA Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman is evolving the company’s Cygnus spacecraft as a foundational logistics and research platform to support NASA’s next generation of low Earth orbit ventures. The company recently completed a project management review with NASA, presenting the roadmap and enhancements to commercialize the spacecraft. Northrop Grumman also continues to make progress toward the implementation of docking capability through a partnership with Starlab Space.
Sierra Space’s LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) habitat following a full-scale ultimate burst pressure test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.Credits: Sierra Space Sierra Space
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The SpaceX Starship spacecraft, a fully reusable transportation, ahead of a test flight at the company’s Starbase facilities in Boca Chica, Texas.Credits: SpaceX SpaceX
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During the test, the vehicle autonomously flew 165 miles before it was safely recovered at the landing site, demonstrating the system’s reliability. The company’s low-mass re-entry system can protect payload mass and volume for future space cargo return missions and point-to-point delivery.
NASA’s low Earth orbit microgravity strategy builds on the agency’s extensive human spaceflight experience to advance future scientific and exploration goals. As the International Space Station nears the end of operations, NASA plans to transition to a new low Earth orbit model to continue leveraging microgravity benefits. Through commercial partnerships, NASA aims to maintain its leadership in microgravity research and ensure continued benefits for humanity.
Learn more about NASA’s low Earth orbit microgravity strategy at:
https://www.nasa.gov/leomicrogravitystrategy
News Media Contacts
Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
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Anna Schneider
Johnson Space Center, Houston
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By NASA
llustration of BioSentinel’s spacecraft flying past the Moon.NASA/Daniel Rutter Editor’s Note: This article was updated Nov. 20, 2024 shortly after BioSentinel’s mission marked two years of operation in deep space.
Astronauts live in a pretty extreme environment aboard the International Space Station. Orbiting about 250 miles above the Earth in the weightlessness of microgravity, they rely on commercial cargo missions about every two months to deliver new supplies and experiments. And yet, this place is relatively protected in terms of space radiation. The Earth’s magnetic field shields space station crew from much of the radiation that can damage the DNA in our cells and lead to serious health problems. When future astronauts set off on long journeys deeper into space, they will be venturing into more perilous radiation environments and will need substantial protection. With the help of a biology experiment within a small satellite called BioSentinel, scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center, in California’s Silicon Valley, are taking an early step toward finding solutions.
To learn the basics of what happens to life in space, researchers often use “model organisms” that we understand relatively well. This helps show the differences between what happens in space and on Earth more clearly. For BioSentinel, NASA is using yeast – the very same yeast that makes bread rise and beer brew. In both our cells and yeast cells, the type of high-energy radiation encountered in deep space can cause breaks in the two entwined strands of DNA that carry genetic information. Often, DNA damage can be repaired by cells in a process that is very similar between yeast and humans.
Conceptual graphic of a radiation particle causing a double-stranded DNA break. BioSentinel set out to be the first long-duration biology experiment to take place beyond where the space station orbits near Earth. BioSentinel’s spacecraft is one of 10 CubeSats that launched aboard Artemis I, the first flight of the Artemis program’s Space Launch System, NASA’s powerful new rocket. The cereal box-sized satellite traveled to deep space on the rocket then flew past the Moon in a direction to orbit the Sun. Once the satellite was in position beyond our planet’s protective magnetic field, the BioSentinel team triggered a series of experiments remotely, activating two strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to grow in the presence of space radiation. Samples of yeast were activated at different time points throughout the six- to twelve-month mission.
One strain is the yeast commonly found in nature, while the other was selected because it has trouble repairing its DNA. By comparing how the two strains respond to the deep space radiation environment, researchers will learn more about the health risks posed to humans during long-term exploration and be able to develop informed strategies for reducing potential damage.
During the initial phase of the mission, which began in December 2022 and completed in April 2023, the BioSentinel team successfully operated BioSentinel’s BioSensor hardware –a miniature biotechnology laboratory designed to measure how living yeast cells respond to long-term exposure to space radiation – in deep space. The team completed four experiments lasting two-weeks each but did not observe any yeast cell growth. They determined that deep space radiation was not the cause of the inactive yeast cells, but that their lack of growth was likely due to the yeast expiring after extended storage time of the spacecraft ahead of launch.
Although the yeast did not activate as intended to gather observations on the impact of radiation on living yeast cells, BioSentinel’s onboard radiation detector – that measures the type and dose of radiation hitting the spacecraft – continues to collect data in deep space.
NASA extended BioSentinel’s mission in 2023 by up to an additional 18 months, or as late as November 2024, and again in 2024 by up to an additional 10 months, or as late as September 2025, to continue collecting valuable deep space radiation data in the unique, high-radiation environment beyond low Earth orbit.
Solar activity is expected to increase as we head into a solar maximum period in the Sun’s 11-year cycle. Activity on the Sun, involving solar flares and giant eruptions called coronal mass ejections are predicted to peak in 2025. These events send powerful bursts of energy, magnetic fields and plasma into space which causes the aurora, interferes with satellite signals. Solar radiation events from particles accelerated to high speeds can also pose a threat to astronauts in space.
Built on a history of small-satellite biology
The BioSentinel project builds on Ames’ history of carrying out biology studies in space using CubeSats – small satellites built from individual units each about four inches cubed. BioSentinel is a six-unit spacecraft weighing about 30 pounds. It houses the yeast cells in tiny compartments inside microfluidic cards – custom hardware that allows for the controlled flow of extremely small volumes of liquids that will activate and sustain the yeast. Data about radiation levels and the yeast’s growth and metabolism will be collected and stored aboard the spacecraft and then transmitted to the science team back on Earth.
A reserve set of microfluidic cards containing yeast samples will be activated if the satellite encounters a solar particle event, a radiation storm coming from the Sun that is a particularly severe health risk for future deep space explorers.
BioSentinel’s microfluidics card, designed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, 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 three-color LED detection system and a dye that provides a readout of yeast cell activity. Here, pink wells contain actively growing yeast cells that have turned the dye from blue to pink color.NASA/Dominic Hart Multiple BioSentinels will compare various gravity and radiation environments
In addition to the pioneering BioSentinel mission that will traverse the deep space environment, identical experiments take place under different radiation and gravity conditions. One ran on the space station, in microgravity that is similar to deep space, but with comparatively less radiation. Other experiments took place on the ground, for comparison with Earth’s gravity and radiation levels. These additional versions show scientists how to compare Earth and space station-based science experiments – which can be conducted much more readily – to the fierce radiation that future astronauts will encounter in space.
Taken together, the BioSentinel data will be critical for interpreting the effects of space radiation exposure, reducing the risks associated with long-term human exploration, and confirming existing models of the effects of space radiation on living organisms.
Milestones
December 2021: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment launched to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 24th commercial resupply services mission. January 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment began science operations aboard the International Space Station. February 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment began ground control science operations at NASA Ames. June 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment completed science operations. The hardware was returned to Earth in August aboard SpaceX’s CRS-25 Dragon. October 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment completed ground control science operations at NASA Ames. Nov. 16, 2022: BioSentinel launched to deep space aboard Artemis I. Dec. 5, 2022: BioSentinel began science operations in deep space. Dec. 19, 2022: BioSentinel began ground control science operations at NASA Ames. Nov. 16, 2024: BioSentinel marks two years of continuous radiation observations in deep space, now more than 30 million miles from Earth. Partners:
NASA Ames leads the science, hardware design and development of the BioSentinel mission. Partner organizations include NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. BioSentinel is funded by the Mars Campaign Development (MCO) Division within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. BioSentinel’s extended mission is supported by the Heliophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, the MCO, and the NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Learn more:
NASA story: NASA’s BioSentinel Studies Solar Radiation as Earth Watches Aurora (Sept. 2024) NASA story: NASA Extends BioSentinel’s Mission to Measure Deep Space Radiation, Aug. 2023 NASA story: First Deep Space Biology Experiment Begins, Follow Along in Real-Time, Dec. 2022 NASA story: BioSentinel Underway After Successful Lunar Flyby, Nov. 2022 NASA story: Artemis I to Launch First-of-a-Kind Deep Space Biology Mission, Aug. 2022 NASA video: Why NASA is Sending Yeast to Deep Space, Feb. 2022 NASA podcast: “Houston We Have a Podcast,” Deep Space Biology, Jan. 2022 NASA blog: All Artemis I Secondary Payloads Installed in Rocket’s Orion Stage Adapter, Oct. 2021 NASA blog; NASA Prepares Three More CubeSat Payloads for Artemis I Mission. Jul. 2021 NASA story: NASA’s BioSentinel Team Prepares CubeSat For Deep Space Flight, Apr. 2021 NASA in Silicon Valley podcast episode: Sharmila Bhattacharya on Studying How Biology Changes in Space, Mar. 2018 NASA story: For Holiday Celebrations and Space Radiation, Yeast is the Key, Dec. 2018 For researchers:
NASA Space Station Research Explorer: BioSentinel ISS Control Experiment NASA technical webpage: BioSentinel For news media:
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
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