DAVID The First 6U Cubesat Mission of the Italian Space Agency Programme Iperdrone as Demonstration of New On Orbit Services Performed by Space Drones

The Italian Space Agency is promoting a roadmap for the design, manufacturing and operation of a new space reentry drone. The Iperdrone program will qualify a new type of operative mission, through an incremental phased approach. The program includes, as first step, the demonstration of inspection services for the International Space Station, optimizing the EVA activities and increasing the in space experimentation opportunities. The paper will present the status of development of the first mission, which will demonstrate the system\u27s capabilities such as proximity operations, inspection and interaction with a target, including a close rendez-vous demonstration. The first mission, DAVID to be launched within 2023, is based on a 6U cubesat architecture

No Effect of Microgravity and Simulated Mars Gravity on Final Bacterial Cell Concentrations on the International Space Station: Applications to Space Bioproduction

Microorganisms perform countless tasks on Earth and they are expected to be essential for human space exploration. Despite the interest in the responses of bacteria to space conditions, the findings on the effects of microgravity have been contradictory, while the effects of Martian gravity are nearly unknown. We performed the ESA BioRock experiment on the International Space Station to study microbe-mineral interactions in microgravity, simulated Mars gravity and simulated Earth gravity, as well as in ground gravity controls, with three bacterial species: Sphingomonas desiccabilis, Bacillus subtilis, and Cupriavidus metallidurans. To our knowledge, this was the first experiment to study simulated Martian gravity on bacteria using a space platform. Here, we tested the hypothesis that different gravity regimens can influence the final cell concentrations achieved after a multi-week period in space. Despite the different sedimentation rates predicted, we found no significant differences in final cell counts and optical densities between the three gravity regimens on the ISS. This suggests that possible gravityrelated effects on bacterial growth were overcome by the end of the experiment. The results indicate that microbial-supported bioproduction and life support systems can be effectively performed in space (e.g., Mars), as on Earth

Exploring the effectiveness of the Green Pass Law as Public Health instrument to increase anti-COVID-19 vaccination in a sample of working-age adult population in the Palermo Metropolitan Area.

Counteracting vaccine hesitancy should be considered an absolute priority for Public Health Authorities. A correct health communication represents one of the best ways to increase adhesion to vaccination among hesitant population. In order to increase vaccination coverage rates against COVID-19, the Italian government has issued a legislative decree with a mandatory “Green pass” (GP) to access workplaces for some categories considered at risk. We conducted a cross-sectional study with the aim to highlight the factors associated with the anti-COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and to estimate the influenceof the introduction by law of the Green Pass (GP) on the adhesion to the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in a sample of individual accessing one of the main vaccination centres of the metropolitan area of Palermo, Italy. An anonymous and validated questionnaire was self-administered through the Google Documents® platform, between October 2021 and March 2022. Among the 467 subjects enrolled, 43.3% were influenced on their vaccination choice by the introduction of the GP.  The multivariate analysis showed that among the respondents emerged contrasting feelings with a self-reported significantly higher sense of freedom(Adj-OR= 2.45, 95%CIs= 1.51-3.97, p-value: <0.001)but a lower sense of safety (Adj-OR= 0.19, 95%CIs= 0.12-0.29, p-value: <0.001)after vaccine administration. Our findings, in line with the available literature, suggest that the introduction of GP has led to a significant increase in the immunization rate and, together with an appropriate communicative approach, it could represent an effective strategy to counteract vaccine hesitancy

APHRODITE: A Compact Lab-on-Chip Biosensor for the Real-Time Analysis of Salivary Biomarkers in Space Missions

One of the main challenges to be faced in deep space missions is to protect the health and ensure the maximum efficiency of the crew by preparing methods of prevention and in situ diagnosis. Indeed, the hostile environment causes important health problems, ranging from muscle atrophy, osteopenia, and immunological and metabolic alterations due to microgravity, to an increased risk of cancer caused by exposure to radiation. It is, therefore, necessary to provide new methods for the real-time measurement of biomarkers suitable for deepening our knowledge of the effects of space flight on the balance of the immune system and for allowing the monitoring of the astronaut’s health during long-term missions. APHRODITE will enable human space exploration because it fills this void that affects both missions in LEO and future missions to the Moon and Mars. Its scientific objectives are the design, production, testing, and in-orbit demonstration of a compact, reusable, and reconfigurable system for performing the real-time analysis of oral fluid samples in manned space missions. In the frame of this project, a crew member onboard the ISS will employ APHRODITE to measure the selected target analytes, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), in oral fluid, in four (plus one additional desired session) separate experiment sessions. The paper addresses the design of the main subsystems of the analytical device and the preliminary results obtained during the first implementations of the device subsystems and testing measurements on Earth. In particular, the system design and the experiment data output of the lab-on-chip photosensors and of the front-end readout electronics are reported in detail along with preliminary chemical tests for the duplex competitive CL-immunoassay for the simultaneous detection of cortisol and DHEA-S. Different applications also on Earth are envisaged for the APHRODITE device, as it will be suitable for point-of-care testing applications (e.g., emergency medicine, bioterrorism, diagnostics in developing countries, etc.)

Microbially-Enhanced Vanadium Mining and Bioremediation Under Micro- and Mars Gravity on the International Space Station

As humans explore and settle in space, they will need to mine elements to support industries such as manufacturing and construction. In preparation for the establishment of permanent human settlements across the Solar System, we conducted the ESA BioRock experiment on board the International Space Station to investigate whether biological mining could be accomplished under extraterrestrial gravity conditions. We tested the hypothesis that the gravity (g) level influenced the efficacy with which biomining could be achieved from basalt, an abundant material on the Moon and Mars, by quantifying bioleaching by three different microorganisms under microgravity, simulated Mars and Earth gravitational conditions. One element of interest in mining is vanadium (V), which is added to steel to fabricate high strength, corrosion-resistant structural materials for buildings, transportation, tools and other applications. The results showed that Sphingomonas desiccabilis and Bacillus subtilis enhanced the leaching of vanadium under the three gravity conditions compared to sterile controls by 184.92 to 283.22%, respectively. Gravity did not have a significant effect on mean leaching, thus showing the potential for biomining on Solar System objects with diverse gravitational conditions. Our results demonstrate the potential to use microorganisms to conduct elemental mining and other bioindustrial processes in space locations with non-1 × g gravity. These same principles apply to extraterrestrial bioremediation and elemental recycling beyond Earth