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Semi-Autonomous Rodent Habitat for Deep Space ExplorationNASA has flown animals to space as part of trailblazing missions and to understand the biological responses to spaceflight. Mice traveled in the Lunar Module with the Apollo 17 astronauts and now mice are frequent research subjects in LEO on the ISS. The ISS rodent missions have focused on unravelling biological mechanisms, better understanding risks to astronaut health, and testing candidate countermeasures. A critical barrier for longer-duration animal missions is the need for humans-in-the-loop to perform animal husbandry and perform routine tasks during a mission. Using autonomous or telerobotic systems to alleviate some of these tasks would enable longer-duration missions to be performed at the Deep Space Gateway. Rodent missions performed using the Gateway as a platform could address a number of critical risks identified by the Human Research Program (HRP), as well as Space Biology Program questions identified by NRC Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, (2011). HRP risk areas of potentially greatest relevance that the Gateway rodent missions can address include those related to visual impairment (VIIP) and radiation risks to central nervous system, cardiovascular disease, as well as countermeasure testing. Space Biology focus areas addressed by the Gateway rodent missions include mechanisms and combinatorial effects of microgravity and radiation. The objectives of the work proposed here are to 1) develop capability for semi-autonomous rodent research in cis-lunar orbit, 2) conduct key experiments for testing countermeasures against low gravity and space radiation. The hardware and operations system developed will enable experiments at least one month in duration, which potentially could be extended to one year in duration. To gain novel insights into the health risks to crew of deep space travel (i.e., exposure to space radiation), results obtained from Gateway flight rodents can be compared to ground control groups and separate groups of mice exposed to simulated Galactic Cosmic Radiation (at the NASA Space Radiation Lab). Results can then be compared to identical experiments conducted on the ISS. Together results from Gateway, ground-based, and ISS rodent experiments will provide novel insight into the effects of space radiation.
Document ID
20180001902
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Alwood, J. S. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Shirazi-Fard, Y. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Pletcher, D. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Globus, R. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
March 15, 2018
Publication Date
February 27, 2018
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
ARC-E-DAA-TN53338
Meeting Information
Meeting: Deep Space Gateway Concept Science Workshop
Location: Denver, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: February 27, 2018
End Date: March 1, 2018
Sponsors: Universities Space Research Association
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
deep space gateway
radiation
rodent
habitat

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