Biological Earth observation with animal sensors

Space-based tracking technology using low-cost miniature tags is now delivering data on fine-scale animal movement at near-global scale. Linked with remotely sensed environmental data, this offers a biological lens on habitat integrity and connectivity for conservation and human health; a global network of animal sentinels of environmen-tal change

Contributions of the International Space Station towards future exploration missions

When the idea of a large space station in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was conceived in the 1980s, it was primarily planned as an orbiting laboratory for microgravity research. Some even thought of it as an industrial plant in space. Whereas the latter did not materialize because of various reasons, the former is absolutely true when you talk about the International Space Station (ISS). Since the transition to a six astronaut crew in 2009 and the completion of its assembly in 2011, it has been intensively used as laboratory in a wide field of scientific topics. Experiments conducted on ISS have yielded first class results in biology, physiology, material science, basic physics, and many more. While its role as a laboratory in space is widely recognized, the awareness for its potential for preparing future exploration missions beyond LEO is just increasing. This paper provides information on how the ISS programme contributes to future exploration efforts, both manned and unmanned. It highlights the work that has been done or is currently underway in the fields of technology, operations, and science. Further potentials and future projects for exploration preparation are also shown. A special focus lies on experiments and projects primarily funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) or with strong German participation in the science team

REXUS 12 Suaineadh experiment: deployment of a web in microgravity conditions using centrifugal forces

The benefit of developing large space structures has been acknowledged by many space agencies in successfully supporting the design and operations of numerous missions. Such structures include deploying concentrators, solar sails and/or reflectors. Acting as a proof of concept, a team formed from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK), the University of Glasgow (Glasgow, UK) and the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden) aims to deploy a space web – the Suaineadh (pronounced sha-NAID) experiment - in microgravity conditions. The experiment will be launched in March 2012 on a REXUS (Rocket Experiments for University Students) sounding rocket. Following launch, the experiment will be ejected from the nosecone of the rocket. Centrifugal forces acting on the space webs spinning assembly will be used to stabilise the experiments platform. A specifically designed spinning reaction wheel, with an active control method, will be used. Once the experiments motion is controlled and at a specific distance from the rocket a 2 m by 2 m space web will be released. Four daughter sections situated in the corners of the square web will serve as masses to stabilise the web due to the centrifugal forces acting on them. The four daughter sections contain inertial measurement units (IMUs). Data gained from the IMUs will be used to verify the simulation data. Additional inertial measurements are also recorded from an IMU located on the central hub section. Furthermore, four cameras are also mounted on the central hub section. Each point outwards towards the corner sections and will capture high resolution imagery of the deployment process. Novel electronic architecture has been developed in order to timestamp and compresses the high resolution data. The accumulated experimental data is stored primarily on the experimental module. A bulk of the data is transmitted wirelessly to the REXUS rocket and stored onboard. Moreover, a finite amount of data is transmitted to the ground station using the REXUS downlink. This guarantees functionality of the experiment. After re-entry, the experimental module will be recovered using a GPS-beacon. The paper will therefore outline the entirely new design of the experiment, system engineering and project management between the three participating institutions. An overview of the current status of the manufacturing, testing and the newest simulation results will be also discussed in detail. The project is significant due to its complexity and the involvement of several scientific fields in a single project

Applications and Potentials of Intelligent Swarms for magnetospheric studies

Earth's magnetosphere is vital for today's technologically dependent society. To date, numerous design studies have been conducted and over a dozen science missions have flown to study the magnetosphere. However, a majority of these solutions relied on large monolithic satellites, which limited the spatial resolution of these investigations, as did the technological limitations of the past. To counter these limitations, we propose the use of a satellite swarm carrying numerous and distributed payloads for magnetospheric measurements. Our mission is named APIS — Applications and Potentials of Intelligent Swarms. The APIS mission aims to characterize fundamental plasma processes in the Earth's magnetosphere and measure the effect of the solar wind on our magnetosphere. We propose a swarm of 40 CubeSats in two highly-elliptical orbits around the Earth, which perform radio tomography in the magnetotail at 8–12 Earth Radii (RE) downstream, and the subsolar magnetosphere at 8–12 RE upstream. These maps will be made at both low-resolutions (at 0.5 RE, 5 s cadence) and high-resolutions (at 0.025 RE, 2 s cadence). In addition, in-situ measurements of the magnetic and electric fields, plasma density will be performed by on-board instruments. In this article, we present an outline of previous missions and designs for magnetospheric studies, along with the science drivers and motivation for the APIS mission. Furthermore, preliminary design results are included to show the feasibility of such a mission. The science requirements drive the APIS mission design, the mission operation and the system requirements. In addition to the various science payloads, critical subsystems of the satellites are investigated e.g., navigation, communication, processing and power systems. Our preliminary investigation on the mass, power and link budgets indicate that the mission could be realized using Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) technologies and with homogeneous CubeSats, each with a 12U form factor. We summarize our findings, along with the potential next steps to strengthen our design study.Circuits and System

Lessons learned from three university experiments onboard the REXUS/BEXUS sounding rockets and stratosphere balloons

Over the last three years the authors have been involved in three experiments that were or will be launched on sounding rockets and high altitude balloons with the REXUS/BEXUS program (Rocket-borne / Balloon-borne Experiments for University Students). The first experiment, called Suaineadh was launched from Esrange (Kiruna, Sweden) onboard REXUS 12 in March 2012. Suaineadh had the purpose of deploying a web in space by using centrifugal forces. The payload was lost during re-entry but was recovered 18 month later in early September 2013. StrathSat-R is the second experiment, which had the purpose of deploying two cube satellites with inflatable structures from the REXUS 13 sounding rocket, was launched first in May 2013 and will be launched a second time in spring 2014. The last experiment is the iSEDE experiment which has the goal of deploying an inflatable structure with disaggregated electronics from the high altitude balloon BEXUS15/16 in October 2013. All these experiments have been designed, built and flown in a timeframe of one and a half to two years. This paper will present the lessons learned in project management, outreach, experiment design, fabrication and manufacturing, software design and implementation, testing and validation as well as launch, flight and post-flight. Furthermore, the lessons learned during the recovery mission of Suaineadh will be discussed as well. All these experiments were designed, built and tested by a large group of university students of various disciplines and different nationalities. StrathSat-R and iSEDE were built completely at Strathclyde but the Suaineadh experiment was a joint project between Glasgow and Stockholm which was especially tricky during integration while approaching the experiment delivery deadline. This paper should help students and professionals across various disciplines to build and organise these kinds of projects more efficiently without making the same, sometimes expensive, mistakes all over again

Predictive value of hypoxia, proliferation and tyrosine kinase receptors for EGFR-inhibition and radiotherapy sensitivity in head and neck cancer models

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: EGFR-inhibitor Cetuximab (C225) improves the efficacy of radiotherapy in only a subgroup of HNSCC patients. Identification of predictive tumor characteristics is essential to improve patient selection. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Response to C225 and/or radiotherapy was assessed with tumor growth delay assays in 4 HNSCC xenograft models with varying EGFR-expression levels. Hypoxia and proliferation were quantified with immunohistochemistry and the expression of proteins involved in C225-resistance with Western blot. RESULTS: EGFR-expression did not predict response to C225 and/or radiotherapy. Reduction of hypoxia by C225 was only observed in SCCNij202, which was highly sensitive to C225. Proliferation changes correlated with response to C225 and C225 combined with radiotherapy, as proliferation decreased after C225 treatment in C225-sensitive SCCNij202 and after combined treatment in SCCNij185, which showed a synergistic effect to combined C225-radiotherapy. Furthermore, C225-resistant SCCNij153 tumors expressed high levels of (activated) HER3 and MET. CONCLUSIONS: EGFR-expression is needed for C225-response, but is not sufficient to predict response to C225 with or without radiotherapy. However, basal expression of additional growth factor receptors and effects on proliferation, but not hypoxia, correlated with response to combined C225-radiotherapy treatment and are potential clinically relevant predictive biomarkers

Gene expression during acute and prolonged hypoxia is regulated by distinct mechanisms of translational control

Hypoxia has recently been shown to activate the endoplasmic reticulum kinase PERK, leading to phosphorylation of eIF2α and inhibition of mRNA translation initiation. Using a quantitative assay, we show that this inhibition exhibits a biphasic response mediated through two distinct pathways. The first occurs rapidly, reaching a maximum at 1–2 h and is due to phosphorylation of eIF2α. Continued hypoxic exposure activates a second, eIF2α-independent pathway that maintains repression of translation. This phase is characterized by disruption of eIF4F and sequestration of eIF4E by its inhibitor 4E-BP1 and transporter 4E-T. Quantitative RT–PCR analysis of polysomal RNA indicates that the translation efficiency of individual genes varies widely during hypoxia. Furthermore, the translation efficiency of individual genes is dynamic, changing dramatically during hypoxic exposure due to the initial phosphorylation and subsequent dephosphorylation of eIF2α. Together, our data indicate that acute and prolonged hypoxia regulates mRNA translation through distinct mechanisms, each with important contributions to hypoxic gene expression