Abstract
In light of an upcoming series of missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) through NASA’s Artemis program and the potential establishment of bases on the Moon and Mars, the effects of the deep space environment on biology need to be examined and protective countermeasures need to be developed. Even though many biological experiments have been performed in space since the 1960s, most of them have occurred in LEO and for only short periods of time. These LEO missions have studied many biological phenomena in a variety of model organisms, as well as utilized a broad range of technologies. Given the constraints of the deep space environment, however, future deep space biological missions will be limited to microbial organisms using miniaturized technologies. Small satellites like CubeSats are capable of querying relevant space environments using novel instruments and biosensors. CubeSats also provide a low-cost alternative to more complex and larger missions, and require minimal crew support, if any. Several have been deployed in LEO, but the next iteration of biological CubeSats will go farther. BioSentinel will be the first interplanetary CubeSat and the first biological study NASA has sent beyond Earth’s magnetosphere in 50 years. BioSentinel is an autonomous free-flyer platform able to support biology and to investigate the effects of radiation on a model organism in interplanetary deep space. The BioSensor payload contained within the free-flyer is also an adaptable instrument that can perform biologically relevant measurements with different microorganisms and in multiple space environments, including the ISS, lunar gateway, and on the surface of the Moon. Nanosatellites like BioSentinel can be used to study the effects of both reduced gravity and space radiation and can house different organisms or biosensors to answer specific scientific questions. Utilizing these biosensors will allow us to better understand the effects of the space environment on biology so humanity may return safely to deep space and venture farther than ever before.
Highlights
NASA currently has plans to return humans to the Moon and to eventually land manned missions on Mars
The deep space environment is characterized by reduced gravity and ionizing radiation in the form of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar particle events (SPEs), both of which can have detrimental effects on biology
Some of the automated technologies in these facilities include microfluidics, various microscopy techniques, bioreactors, and multi-sample collection systems, all of which are key for biological experiments [10,11,12]. The automation of these technologies on the International Space Station (ISS), where crew members are present to assist with biological experiments, is a key indicator of the importance in self-sustaining experiments for biological research beyond low Earth orbit (LEO)
Summary
Ionizing radiation causes damage to biology through several means, including direct DNA damage like double-strand breaks and indirect damage like that caused by reactive oxygen species [4] It is critical for the future of space exploration that more biological studies be conducted querying the deep space environment. While many space experiments have been performed in higher eukaryotes including rodents and other animal models, current planned missions beyond LEO will include single-celled prokaryotes and eukaryotes and may include extremophiles and microbial communities. Microbial-derived biosensors aboard CubeSats have been used, for example, to investigate the effect of microgravity on antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria and to study the effect of a fungicide on yeast cells [5,6] These recent studies have been built on a foundation of decades of space biology research
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