Space-Based Genetic Cryoconservation of Endangered Species

Genetic materials of endangered species must be maintained, for cryoconservation, permanently near liquid nitrogen temperatures below 77 K. Due to the instability of human institutions, permanent safety is best provided at storage sites that maintain passively the needed low temperatures, and provide barriers to access. The required conditions are available in permanently shaded polar lunar craters with equilibrium temperatures of 8 to 40 K, on the moons of Saturn, and unshielded storage satellites. A genetic depository can be incorporated readily into planned lunar programmes

Planetary Bioresources and Astroecology 1. Planetary Microcosm Bioassays of Martian and Carbonaceous Chondrite Materials: Nutrients, Electrolyte Solutions, and Algal and Plant Responses

The biological fertilities of planetary materials can be assessed using microcosms based on materials in martian and carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Their biological fertilities are rated based on soluble electrolyte nutrients, on the growth of mesophile and cold-tolerant algae, and of plant tissue cultures. The Murchison CM2 carbonaceous chondrite meteorite and DaG 476 martian shergottite contain high levels of water-extractable Ca, Mg, and SO4–S. The martian meteorites DaG 476 and EETA 79001 also contain high levels of extractable nutrients NO3–N (0.013–0.017 g kg−1) and PO4–P (0.019–0.046 g kg−1). The yields of most of the water-extractable electrolytes vary little under wide planetary conditions, but the longterm extractable phosphate increases significantly under a CO2 atmosphere. The yields of algae and plant tissue cultures correlate with extractable NO3–N and PO4–P that are the limiting nutrients. Mesophilic algae and Asparagus officinalis are useful bioassay agents. A fertility rating system based on meteorite microcosms is proposed. The fertilities are rated as martian basalts \u3e terrestrial basalt, agricultural soil \u3e carbonaceous chondrites, lava ash \u3e cumulate igneous rocks. The extractable materials in Murchison show that internal solutions in carbonaceous asteroids (3.8 mol L−1 electrolytes and 10 g L−1 organics) can support microorganisms in early solar systems, and that carbonaceous asteroids and martian basalts can serve as future for substantial populations in the Solar System

The Temperature Dependence of Reactions of Gaseous IONS: Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Transfer and Association Reactions

The effect of temperature on the kinetics and thermodynamics of gaseous ion-molecule reactions were investigated by pulsed, high pressure (0.4 - 3.0 torr) mass spectrometry in the temperature range 100 - 650OK. In the context of kinetic temperature effects, the reactions investigated may be divided into three classes: (i) Fast bimolecular transfer reactions which proceed with collision rates, e.g. N2H+ + X ---XH+ + N2 (X = CH4, NH3, CH3CHO)

Astroecology, cosmo-ecology, and the future of life

Astroecology concerns the relations between life and space resources, and cosmo-ecology extrapolates these relations to cosmological scales. Experimental astroecology can quantify the amounts of life that can be derived from space resources. For this purpose, soluble carbon and electrolyte nutrients were measured in asteroid/meteorite materials. Microorganisms and plant cultures were observed to grow on these materials, whose fertilities are similar to productive agricultural soils. Based on measured nutrient contents, the 1022 kg carbonaceous asteroids can yield 1018 kg biomass with N and P as limiting nutrients (compared with the estimated 1015 kg biomass on Earth). These data quantify the amounts of life that can be derived from asteroids in terms of time-integrated biomass [BIOTAint = biomass (kg) × lifetime (years)], as 1027 kg-years during the next billion years of the Solar System (a thousand times the 1024 kg-years to date). The 1026 kg cometary materials can yield biota 10 000 times still larger. In the galaxy, potential future life can be estimated based on stellar luminosities. For example, the Sun will develop into a white dwarf star whose 1015 W luminosity can sustain a BIOTAint of 1034 kg-years over 1020 years. The 1012 main sequence and white and red dwarf stars can sustain 1046 kg-years of BIOTAint in the galaxy and 1057 kg-years in the universe. Life has great potentials in space, but the probability of present extraterrestrial life may be incomputable because of biological and ecological complexities. However, we can establish and expand life in space with present technology, by seeding new young solar systems. Microbial representatives of our life-form can be launched by solar sails to new planetary systems, including extremophiles suited to diverse new environments, autotrophs and heterotrophs to continually form and recycle biomolecules, and simple multicellulars to jump-start higher evolution. These programs can be motivated by life-centered biotic ethics that seek to secure and propagate life. In space, life can develop immense populations and diverse new branches. Some may develop into intelligent species that can expand life further in the galaxy, giving our human endeavors a cosmic purpose

Directed Panspermia. 3. Strategies and Motivations for Seeding Star-Forming Clouds

Microbial swarms aimed at star-forming regions of interstellar clouds can seed stellar associations of 10 - 100 young planetary systems. Swarms of millimeter size, milligram packets can be launched by 35 cm solar sails at 5E-4 c, to penetrate interstellar clouds. Selective capture in high-density planetary accretion zones of densities \u3e 1E-17 kg m-3 is achieved by viscous drag. Strategies are evaluated to seed dense cloud cores, or individual protostellar condensations, accretion disks or young planets therein. Targeting the Ophiuchus cloud is described as a model system. The biological content, dispersed in 30 μm, 1E-10 kg capsules of 1E6 freeze-dried microorganisms each, may be captured by new planets or delivered to planets after incorporation first into carbonaceous asteroids and comets. These objects, as modeled by meteorite materials, contain biologically available organic and mineral nutrients that are shown to sustain microbial growth. The program may be driven by panbiotic ethics, predicated on: 1. The unique position of complex organic life amongst the structures of Nature; 2. Self-propagation as the basic propensity of the living pattern; 3. The biophysical unity humans with of the organic, DNA/protein family of life; and 4. Consequently, the primary human purpose to safeguard and propagate our organic life form. To promote this purpose, panspermia missions with diverse biological payloads will maximize survival at the targets and induce evolutionary pressures. In particular, eukaryotes and simple multicellular organisms in the payload will accelerate higher evolution. Based on the geometries and masses of star-forming regions, the 1E24 kg carbon resources of one solar system, applied during its 5E9 yr lifespan, can seed all newly forming planetary systems in the galaxy. 1

Life in the Cosmological Future: Resources, Biomass and Populations

The amounts of life that can be realized in any ecosystem are determined by the resources of materials and energy, the requirements of the biomass, the rates of usage or wastage, and the life span of the habitat. In the Solar System, carbonaceous asteroids and comets are accessible resources, and meteorite-based microcosms showed that these materials could support microbial and plant life. Based on the measured nutrients, bioavailable materials in the carbonaceous asteroids can yield a biomass of 1018 kg, and the total materials of the comets can yield a biomass of 1025 kg. The total amount of life in a habitat of finite duration, such as the Solar System, may be measured in terms of time-integrated biomass. In these terms, the potential amount of future life about the Main Sequence Sun can be 1034 kg-years, largely exceeding the 1024 kg-years of past terrestrial life. Life about brown, red and white dwarf stars may be energy-limited and contribute 1046 kg-years in the future. The upper limits of life would in the universe would be obtained by converting all baryonic matter to biomass, and gradually converting the biomass to supporting energy. These projections of cosmo-ecology allow an immense 1048 kg-years of time-integrated biomass in the galaxy and 1059 kg-years in the universe

In situ biological resources: Soluble nutrients and electrolytes in carbonaceous asteroids/meteorites. Implications for astroecology and human space populations

Ecosystems in space will need in-situ bioavailable nutrients. The measured nutrients in meteorites allow experiment-based estimates of nutrients in asteroids, and of the biomass and populations that can be derived from these in situ bioresources. In this respect, we found that carbonaceous chondrite meteorites can support microorganisms and plant cultures, suggesting that similar asteroid materials are also biologically fertile. The sustainable biomass and populations are determined by the available resource materials, their yields of nutrients and biomass, the biomass needed to support human populations, the duration of the ecosystem, and wastage. The bioavailable C, N, and electrolytes in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites vary as CM2 \u3e CR2 \u3e CV3 \u3e CO3 \u3e CK4 \u3e CK5 in correlation with petrologic type, including aqueous alteration.Their average bioavailable C, N, K and P can yield 2.4, 3.5, 2.5, and 0.08 g biomass/kg resource material, respectively, showing phosphorus as the limiting nutrient. On this basis, soluble nutrients in a 100 km radius, 1019 kg resource asteroid can sustain an ecosystem of 108 kg biomass and a human population of 10,000 for \u3e109 years, and its total nutrient contents can sustain a population of one million, by replacing a wastage of 1% of the biomass per year. Overall, the total nutrient contents of the 1022 kg carbonaceous asteroids can yield a biomass of 1020 kg that supports a steady-state human population of one billion during the habitable future of the Solar System, contributing a time-integrated biomass of 1022 kg-years. These astroecology estimates use experimental data on nutrients in asteroids/meteorites to quantify the sustainable biomass and human populations in this and similar solar systems

A Space-Based Solar Screen Against Climatic Warming

The expected global warming may be reversed by space-based screen that would intercept a fraction of the solar radiation incident on Earth. Warming by 2-5oC could be prevented by intercepting 3-7%, respectively, of the incident solar radiation. The screen may be constructed for example of a thin film, a grid of film supported by a mesh or fine-grained dust deployed in orbit about the Earth. For an average film thickness or particle radius of 0.001 cm, the required mass is 1014 - 1015 g, equivalent to a medium sized lunar mountain or asteroid. The material may b deployed and processed using existing technology, similar to methods proposed for space habitat construction. The cost may be substantially lower than the economic and human damage caused by a significant climate change

Presentation of an Immunodominant Immediate-Early CD8+ T Cell Epitope Resists Human Cytomegalovirus Immunoevasion.

Control of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) depends on CD8+ T cell responses that are shaped by an individual's repertoire of MHC molecules. MHC class I presentation is modulated by a set of HCMV-encoded proteins. Here we show that HCMV immunoevasins differentially impair T cell recognition of epitopes from the same viral antigen, immediate-early 1 (IE-1), that are presented by different MHC class I allotypes. In the presence of immunoevasins, HLA-A- and HLA-B-restricted T cell clones were ineffective, but HLA-C*0702-restricted T cell clones recognized and killed infected cells. Resistance of HLA-C*0702 to viral immunoevasins US2 and US11 was mediated by the alpha3 domain and C-terminal region of the HLA heavy chain. In healthy donors, HLA-C*0702-restricted T cells dominated the T cell response to IE-1. The same HLA-C allotype specifically protected infected cells from attack by NK cells that expressed a corresponding HLA-C-specific KIR. Thus, allotype-specific viral immunoevasion allows HCMV to escape control by NK cells and HLA-A- and HLA-B-restricted T cells, while the virus becomes selectively vulnerable to an immunodominant population of HLA-C-restricted T cells. Our work identifies a T cell population that may be of particular efficiency in HCMV-specific immunotherapy

A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future, Locally and Globally

The author is a Research Professor of Chemistry and space science, with over 140 scientific papers and book chapters, and articles on science, society and the future in The Futurist and Spaceflight . The book reflects his personal experience of political systems from the worst to the best, including the Holocaust, communism and various forms of democracy on four continents. He is active in environmental and nuclear disarmament issues, and participated in several election campaigns, including the first Direct Democracy Representative Campaign in Congressional District 6 in Maryland. The book is based on the author\u27s extensive experiences in life, science and society, and an ultimate faith in the communal human wisdom