scholarly journals Understanding Reduced Gravity Effects on Early Plant Development Before Attempting Life-Support Farming in the Moon and Mars

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Javier Medina ◽  
Aránzazu Manzano ◽  
Alicia Villacampa ◽  
Malgorzata Ciska ◽  
Raúl Herranz
Keyword(s):  
Life Support ◽  
Gravity Level ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Earth Gravity ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Gravity Effects ◽  
Auxin Polar Transport ◽  
Moon Exploration ◽  
Human Space Exploration ◽  
Bioregenerative Life Support

Plants are a necessary component of any system of bioregenerative life-support for human space exploration. For this purpose, plants must be capable of surviving and adapting to gravity levels different from the Earth gravity, namely microgravity, as it exists on board of spacecrafts orbiting the Earth, and partial-g, as it exists on the surface of the Moon or Mars. Gravity is a fundamental environmental factor for driving plant growth and development through gravitropism. Exposure to real or simulated microgravity produces a stress response in plants, which show cellular alterations and gene expression reprogramming. Partial-g studies have been performed in the ISS using centrifuges and in ground based facilities, by implementing adaptations in them. Seedlings and cell cultures were used in these studies. The Mars gravity level is capable of stimulating the gravitropic response of the roots and preserving the auxin polar transport. Furthermore, whereas Moon gravity produces alterations comparable, or even stronger than microgravity, the intensity of the alterations found at Mars gravity was milder. An adaptive response has been found in these experiments, showing upregulation of WRKY transcription factors involved in acclimation. This knowledge must be improved by incorporating plants to the coming projects of Moon exploration.

How to Establish a Bioregenerative Life Support System for Long-Term Crewed Missions to the Moon or Mars

Astrobiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 925-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuming Fu ◽  
Leyuan Li ◽  
Beizhen Xie ◽  
Chen Dong ◽  
Mingjuan Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Support System ◽  
Life Support ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Life Support System ◽  
Bioregenerative Life Support System ◽  
Bioregenerative Life Support

scholarly journals GENERAL METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, PROVISIONS AND PRINCIPLES OF CREATING THE HOUSING MODULE LUNAR BASE

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-89
Author(s):  
Т.D NIKIFOROVA ◽  
S.Ye. SHEKHORKINA ◽  
О.H. ZYNKEVYCH ◽  
T.Yu. SHEVCHENKO
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Processing Technologies ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Complete Life Cycle ◽  
Lunar Rocks ◽  
Article Analysis ◽  
The Creation

Problem statement. Today, the world's leading researchers are working on the creation of objects on the surface of the Moon. One of the urgent tasks is to develop living modules that provide the necessary protection for the crew of the lunar missions. Analysis of existing research has shown that in order to support long-term surface missions, the lunar infrastructure must provide the necessary functionality of the housing base, such as extraction and processing of raw materials, construction, construction of buildings and structures, life support. Purpose of the article. Analysis of the current state of scientific and applied problems and setting goals and objectives of the further study. The subject of the study is to establish the patterns of lunar bases design and operation in the human civilization interests. Conclusions. The solution of the objectives of the study using the proposed systematic approach of creating an innovative dual-use product, namely, the development of building materials, products and structures by additive technologies (3D-printing) and recommendations for their production will allow the creation of high-security building projects that can be used for development of the Moon and the Earth, which will contribute to the development of domestic territorial and industrial infrastructure. The earth and lunar rocks are extremely similar, so the earth rock processing technologies can be applied to the lunar rocks. The development of the residential module and the structures design must take into account the complete life cycle of the lunar base facilities, as well as the physiological needs of the lunar base crew.

The lunar influence on the vertical deflections and gravity variations

2017 ◽  
Vol 928 (10) ◽  
pp. 2-9
Author(s):  
Yu.A. Kravchenko
Keyword(s):  
Computational Experiment ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Earth Gravity ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Measurement Results ◽  
Gravity Measurements ◽  
Gravity Variations ◽  
Accuracy Increase

The increase of building complexity causes the raise of requirements for accuracy of geodetic observations and the necessity to revise the variety of factors influencing the measurement results. Such factors include the lunar influence on the gravity intensity and direction. The necessity of correcting geodetic observations by the lunar influence and estimation of their highest influence on the Earth gravity and vertical deflections are outlined. The results obtained from the computational experiment on extreme values estimation of vertical deflections (up to 1''), variations of measured heights (up to 0,5 mm by 100 m) and gravity variations (up to 5,44 × 10^(-5) m∙kg / с^2) are sufficient to modify the existing techniques for precision leveling and gravity observations. Another argument in favor of the need to take into account the Moon influence and other factors is the accuracy increase of geodetic instruments (levels and gravimeters).Without changing the method of performing high-precision leveling and gravity measurements and entering the necessary corrections, real accuracy increase of these works can not be achieved. In this case, the ideas about the accuracy achieved, for example, when it is estimated by internal convergence, will be overestimated.

Inspired oxygen: present, past, and future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B West
Keyword(s):  
Planetary System ◽  
Atmospheric Oxygen ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Stable Oxygen ◽  
Human Space Exploration ◽  
Inspired Oxygen ◽  
Made In ◽  
Sufficient Oxygen

As earthlings, we take the oxygen in the air that we breathe for granted. Few people realize that this easy access to oxygen makes us unique in the whole universe. Nowhere else in our planetary system or in distant stars has stable oxygen ever been detected. However, the present plentiful supply of oxygen in our atmosphere was not always there. Long after the earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago, the PO2 in the atmosphere was near zero, and it remained so for millions of years. But about 2 billion years ago, the PO2 dramatically increased to as high as 200 mmHg during the Great Oxygen Event, due to the activity of microorganisms, the cyanobacteria. Subsequently the oxygen level fell to the intermediate values that we have today. Here we also look to the future, for example, the next 50 years. This period will be special because it will include the beginnings of human space exploration, initially to the Moon and Mars. Neither of these has atmospheric oxygen. Nevertheless, plans to visit and live on both of these are developing rapidly. We consider the fascinating problems of how to how to ensure that sufficient oxygen will be available for groups of people . While it is interesting to discuss these issues now, we can expect that major advances will be made in the next few years.

scholarly journals Enigmatic Gravity Effects Observed during Solar Eclipses. Their Analyse by Quantum Model of Inertia and Gravitation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Claude Poher
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Pressure ◽  
Quantum Model ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Earth Gravity ◽  
Gravity Effects ◽  
Science Academy ◽  
Solar Eclipses ◽  
Oscillation Plane ◽  
Velocity Drift ◽  
Gravity Acceleration

Foucault long pendulums, with spherical suspended mass, show Earth rotation by the constant velocity drift of their oscillation plane. Maurice Allais used a short, 84 centimeters pendulum, with a suspended bronze disc mass. He recorded its oscillation plane drift velocity, during solar eclipses, in 1954 and 1959. Both times, he noticed an anomalous drift of the oscillation plane. Several authors confirmed the effect, during next solar eclipses, with other types of pendulums. Then a group of Geophysicists, from the Science Academy of China, used an accurate digital gravimeter to measure Earth Gravity acceleration during March 09, 1997 solar eclipse. Their gravimeter recorded two drops of Earth Gravity acceleration (respectively 5.02 and 7.7 µ Gals) before and during first and last contacts of the Moon disc. However there was no acceleration drop during eclipse totality. Same phenomena were confirmed later, during next solar eclipses, with the same gravimeter. No classical causes for these facts were found, since modern gravimeters take care of temperature and atmospheric pressure variations. We analyse the effect of Moon rotation, and of solar Corona mass, in the frame of our Quantum model of Inertia and of Gravitation. The model predicts that Moon / Earth Gravity acceleration changes, when the Moon direction is close to the Sun one, as observed from the gravimeter place. That phenomenon should be tied to Quantum fluctuations dispersion by matter. Recorded measurements confirm that interpretation.

scholarly journals Integrated Pest Management Protocols for Space-Based Bioregenerative Life Support Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Schuerger
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Pest Management ◽  
Pest Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Life Support Systems ◽  
Bioregenerative Life Support

Human missions to the Moon and Mars will necessarily increase in both duration and complexity over the coming decades. In the past, short-term missions to low-Earth orbit (LEO) or the Moon (e.g., Apollo) utilized physiochemical life support systems for the crews. However, as the spatial and temporal durations of crewed missions to other planetary bodies increase, physiochemical life support systems become burdened with the requirement of frequent resupply missions. Bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS) have been proposed to replace much of the resupply required of physiochemical systems with modules that can regenerate water, oxygen, and food stocks with plant-based biological production systems. In order to protect the stability and productivity of BLSS modules (i.e., small scale units) or habitats (i.e., large scale systems), an integrated pest management (IPM) program is required to prevent, mitigate, and eliminate both insect pests and disease outbreaks in space-based plant-growing systems. A first-order BLSS IPM program is outlined herein that summarizes a collection of protocols that are similar to those used in field, greenhouse, and vertical-farming agricultural systems. However, the space environment offers numerous unusual stresses to plants, and thus, unique space-based IPM protocols will have to be developed. In general, successful operation of space-based BLSS units will be guided by IPM protocols that (1) should be established early in the mission design phase to be effective, (2) will be dynamic in nature changing both spatially and temporally depending on the successional processes afoot within the crewed spacecraft, plant-growing systems, and through time; and (3) can prevent insect/phytopathology outbreaks at very high levels that can approach 100% if properly implemented.

The motion of a lunar orbiter

1966 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
Y. Kozai
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Artificial Satellite ◽  
Equations Of Motion ◽  
Triaxial Ellipsoid ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Secular Motion ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Close Satellite ◽  
The Mean

The motion of an artificial satellite around the Moon is much more complicated than that around the Earth, since the shape of the Moon is a triaxial ellipsoid and the effect of the Earth on the motion is very important even for a very close satellite.The differential equations of motion of the satellite are written in canonical form of three degrees of freedom with time depending Hamiltonian. By eliminating short-periodic terms depending on the mean longitude of the satellite and by assuming that the Earth is moving on the lunar equator, however, the equations are reduced to those of two degrees of freedom with an energy integral.Since the mean motion of the Earth around the Moon is more rapid than the secular motion of the argument of pericentre of the satellite by a factor of one order, the terms depending on the longitude of the Earth can be eliminated, and the degree of freedom is reduced to one.Then the motion can be discussed by drawing equi-energy curves in two-dimensional space. According to these figures satellites with high inclination have large possibilities of falling down to the lunar surface even if the initial eccentricities are very small.The principal properties of the motion are not changed even if plausible values ofJ3andJ4of the Moon are included.This paper has been published in Publ. astr. Soc.Japan15, 301, 1963.

Formation of Lunar Craters and Bright Rays as a Result of Meteorite Impacts

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 415-418
Author(s):  
K. P. Stanyukovich ◽  
V. A. Bronshten
Keyword(s):  
Explosive Charge ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Meteorite Impacts ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Lunar Craters ◽  
The Impact

The phenomena accompanying the impact of large meteorites on the surface of the Moon or of the Earth can be examined on the basis of the theory of explosive phenomena if we assume that, instead of an exploding meteorite moving inside the rock, we have an explosive charge (equivalent in energy), situated at a certain distance under the surface.

The Origin of the Moon

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 149-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Ruskol
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Solar System ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Origin Of The Moon

The difference between average densities of the Moon and Earth was interpreted in the preceding report by Professor H. Urey as indicating a difference in their chemical composition. Therefore, Urey assumes the Moon's formation to have taken place far away from the Earth, under conditions differing substantially from the conditions of Earth's formation. In such a case, the Earth should have captured the Moon. As is admitted by Professor Urey himself, such a capture is a very improbable event. In addition, an assumption that the “lunar” dimensions were representative of protoplanetary bodies in the entire solar system encounters great difficulties.

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