• Title/Summary/Keyword: Spaceflight

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Impacts of the Spaceflight to the Immune System

  • Sultonov, Doston;Kim, Young Hyo
    • Korean journal of aerospace and environmental medicine
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.73-76
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    • 2021
  • Changes the gravity has a significant affect on the immune system. Astronauts experience the gravity changing during spaceflight, especially when launching and landing they experience hypergravity, and during spaceflight they feel microgravity. Both hypergravity and microgravity has an impact to the immune system, but not the same effect. These impacts have been investigated extensively during spaceflight in astronauts and in model experiments conducted on Earth as well. Astronauts during spaceflight feel the hypergravity, psychological stress, fear, high doses of radiation and microgravity. All these factors and changes may affect immune system directly or indirectly.

Uncertainty Quantification of Thermophysical Property Measurement in Space and on Earth: A Study of Liquid Platinum Using Electrostatic Levitation

  • Jannatun Nawer;Takehiko Ishikawa;Hirohisa Oda;Chihiro Koyama;Douglas M. Matson
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.40 no.3
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    • pp.93-100
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    • 2023
  • A study of uncertainty analysis was conducted on four key thermophysical properties of molten Platinum using a noncontacting levitation technique. More specifically, this work demonstrates a detailed reporting of the uncertainties associated with the density, volumetric thermal expansion coefficient, surface tension and viscosity measurements at higher temperatures for a widely used refractory metal, Platinum using electrostatic levitation (ESL). The microgravity experiments were conducted using JAXA's Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) facility on the International Space Station and the terrestrial experiments were conducted using NASA's Marshal Space Flight Center's ESL facility. The performance of these two facilities were then quantified based on the measurement precision and accuracy using the metrological International Standards Organization's Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty Measurement (GUM) principles.

Histopathological alterations of the rat myocardium under simulated microgravity (미세중력 환경에 노출된 백서 심근 조직의 병리학적 변화)

  • Kim, Hyun-Soo;Kim, Youn Wha
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.63-67
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    • 2012
  • Spaceflight induces a number of cardiovascular physiological alterations. To study adaptations to microgravity on Earth, the tail-suspended, hindlimb-unloaded rat model has been used to simulate the effects of microgravity. Despite the extensive use of this model to infer physiological adaptations of many organs to microgravity, little information has been obtained on the effect of tail suspension(TS) on cardiac adaptations in the rat. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of simulated microgravity on the rat myocardium using the TS model. Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups(1, 7 and 14 days of TS) and a control group. A microscopic examination was performed to assess histopathological changes in the myocardial morphology. The hearts from the control group, the 1 day-TS rats and the 7 day-TS rats revealed no evident abnormalities in cardiomyocyte size and morphology. At day 14 of TS, in contrast, the ventricular cardiomyocytes appeared more separated from each other and were slightly smaller in size compared with those of the control group. Also seen were scattered areas exhibiting focal disorganization of muscle fibers and some degenerating cardiomyocytes, of which the nuclei had become pyknotic or disappeared. In this study, we demonstrated that the ventricular cardiomyocytes underwent degeneration and atrophy at the microscopic level during exposure to simulated microgravity in TS rats.

Ground-based model study for spaceflight experiments under microgravity environments on thermo-solutal convection during physical vapor transport of mercurous chloride

  • Choi, Jeong-Gil;Lee, Kyong-Hwan;Kim, Geug-Tae
    • Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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    • v.17 no.6
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    • pp.256-263
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    • 2007
  • For $P_B=50Torr,\;P_T=5401Torr,\;T_S=450^{\circ}C,\;{\Delta}T=20K$, Ar=5, Pr=3.34, Le=0.01, Pe=4.16, Cv=1.05, adiabatic and linear thermal profiles at walls, the intensity of solutal convection (solutal Grashof number $Grs=7.86{\times}10^6$) is greater than that of thermal convection (thermal Grashof number $Grt=4.83{\times}10^5$) by one order of magnitude, which is based on the solutally buoyancy-driven convection due to the disparity in the molecular weights of the component A ($Hg_2Cl_2$) and B (He). With increasing the partial pressure of component B from 20 up to 800 Torr, the rate is decreased exponentially. It is also interesting that as the partial pressure of component B is increased by a factor of 2, the rate is approximately reduced by a half. For systems under consideration, the rate increases linearly and directly with the dimensionless Peclet number which reflects the intensity of condensation and sublimation at the crystal and source region. The convective transport decreases with lower g level and is changed to the diffusive mode at $0.1g_0$. In other words, for regions in which the g level is $0.1g_0$ or less, the diffusion-driven convection results in a parabolic velocity profile and a recirculating cell is not likely to occur. Therefore a gravitational acceleration level of less than $0.1g_0$ can be adequate to ensure purely diffusive transport.

Dynamics of Extra-Vehicular Activities in Low-Gravity Surface Environments

  • Spencer, David A.;Gast, Matthew A.
    • International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.11-18
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    • 2013
  • Human spaceflight experience in extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is limited to two regimes: the micro-gravity environment of Earth orbit, and the lunar surface environment at one-sixth of Earth's gravity. Future human missions to low-gravity bodies, including asteroids, comets, and the moons of Mars, will require EVA techniques that are beyond the current experience base. In order to develop robust approaches for exploring these small bodies, the dynamics associated with human exploration on low-gravity surface must be characterized. This paper examines the translational and rotational motion of an astronaut on the surface of a small body, and it is shown that the low-gravity environment will pose challenges to the surface mobility of an astronaut, unless new tools and EVA techniques are developed. Possibilities for addressing these challenges are explored, and utilization of the International Space Station to test operational concepts and hardware in preparation for a low-gravity surface EVA is discussed.

Computational analysis of the hemodynamic changes in human cardiovascular system after space flight (우주비행 직후 인체 심혈관계의 혈류역학적 변화에 대한 수치적 연구)

  • Shim E. B.;Ko H. J.;Heldt T.;Kamm R. D.;Mark R. G.
    • 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2000.10a
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    • pp.123-128
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    • 2000
  • Orthostatic stress in human cardiovascular system following spaceflight remains a critical problem in the current lifercience space program. The study presented in this paper is part of an ongoing effort to use mathematical models to investigate the effects of gravitational stresses on the cardiovascular system of normals and microgravity adapted individuals. We employ a twelve compartment lumped parameter representation of the hemodynamic system coupled to set-point models of the arterial baroreflex and the cardiopulmonary reflex to investigate the transient response of heart rate to orthostatic stress. We simulate current hypotheses concerning the mechanisms underlying postspaceflight orthostatic intolerance over a range of physiologically reasonable values and compare the simulations to astronaut stand-test data pre-and postflight.

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Preliminary Studies on Double-Diffusive Natural Convection During Physical Vapor Transport Crystal Growth of Hg2Br2 for the Spaceflight Experiments

  • Ha, Sung Ho;Kim, Geug Tae
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.57 no.2
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    • pp.289-300
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    • 2019
  • We have conducted a preliminary numerical analysis to understand the effects of double-diffusive convection on the molar flux at the crystal region during the growth of mercurous bromide ($Hg_2Br_2$) crystals in 1 g and microgravity (${\mu}g$) conditions. It was found that the total molar fluxes decay first-order exponentially with the aspect ratio (AR, transport length-to-width), $1{\leq}AR{\leq}10$. With increasing the aspect ratio of the horizontal enclosure from AR = 1 up to Ar = 10, the convection flow field shifts to the advective-diffusion mode and the flow structures become stable. Therefore, altering the aspect ratio of the enclosure allows one to control the effect of the double diffusive natural convection. Moreover, microgravity environments less than $10^{-2}g$ make the effect of double-diffusive natural convection much reduced so that the convection mode could be switched over the advective-diffusion mode.

Morphological Changes of Pre-Astronaut's Hair During Spaceflight Training - A Case Report - (우주비행 훈련 기간에 채취한 예비우주인 모발의 형태적인 변화 - 증례 보고 -)

  • Lee, Weon-Kun;Chang, Byung-Soo
    • Applied Microscopy
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    • v.39 no.4
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    • pp.365-371
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    • 2009
  • This study was investigated to observe morphological changes of two pre-astronauts' hair, male and female by electron microscopy and to analyze its tensile strength by using rheometer. The surface of those two pre-astronauts' hair, which were very rough and irregular, contained separated scales and destroyed remnants of cuticular cells. Also, there were many holes on the cytoplasm of the cuticular cells which forms the cuticle layer. The destruction begins when the endocuticle where the holes form gets destroyed. And then, The tensile strength of female pre-astronaut's hair was 14.60 mm which is 10% reduced, compared to that of the normal healthy hair. Thus, this result thought to be due to the prolonged change of the biorhythm and psychological instability of the pre-astronauts.

Growth, Morphology, Cross Stress Resistance and Antibiotic Susceptibility of K. pneumoniae Under Simulated Microgravity

  • Kalpana, Duraisamy;Cha, Hyo-Jung;Park, Moon-Ki;Lee, Yang-Soo
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.267-276
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    • 2012
  • Spaceflights results in the reduction of immune status of human beings and increase in the virulence of microorganisms, especially gram negative bacteria. The growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae is enhanced by catecholamines and during spaceflight, elevation in the levels of cortisols occurs. So it is necessary to know the changes in physiology, virulence, antibiotic resistance and gene expression of K. pneumoniae under microgravity conditions. The present study was undertaken to study effect of simulated microgravity on growth, morphology, antibiotic resistance and cross stress resistance of K. pneumoniae to various stresses. The susceptibility of simulated microgravity grown K. pneumoniae to ampicillin, penicillin, streptomycin, kanamycin, hygromycin and rifampicin were evaluated. The growth of bacteria was found to be fast compared with normal gravity grown bacteria and no significant changes in the antibiotic resistance were found. The bacteria cultured under microgravity conferred cross stress resistance to acid, temperature and osmotic stress higher than the normal gravity cultured bacteria but the vice versa was found in case of oxidative stress.