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Right: An astronaut deploys a Passive Optical Sample Array (POSA) outside Mir. The samples are coated or eroded by the space environment. results from this experiment will help in designing coatings for future spacecraft. "This is the third interim results symposium we've held to review science from the Shuttle-Mir program," said Dr. Roger Kroes of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The first symposium was held at Johnson Space Center in August 1997. The second symposium was held at the Ames Research Center in March 1998. These focused on activities in Increments 2 through 5 of U.S. activities aboard Mir. Next month's symposium will cover Increments 6 and 7. These span the occupancy by astronauts Dave Wolf (September 1997-January 1998) and Andrew Thomas (January-May 1998). "Each of these conferences has truly been interim because the scientists haven't had time for a thorough analysis of their results," Kroes said. "But it gives us a midterm review of what's been done and the science that's emerging." The symposium is divided into 11 major sessions: human life sciences, space biology, vehicle dynamics, external environment, Earth sciences, crew health, environmental monitoring, biotechnology, combustion science, materials sciences, and radiation. About a third of the symposium will be devoted to materials sciences and biotechnology, one of the biggest science users of a space station.
Left: Astronaut John Blaha services the Bioreactor, one of many biotechnology experiments conducted aboard Mir.
Kroes, who will chair the microgravity sciences session and act host for the conference, said that about 60 U.S., Russian, and Canadian scientists are expected to attend. Astronauts Thomas and Wolf are tentatively scheduled as guest speakers. Right: A view of Mir from a docked U.S. Space Shuttle. For additional information, check the symposium
web site. And check back here for daily stories. |
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More Space Science Headlines - NASA research on the web Microgravity Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center Life and Microgravity programmatic information from NASA headquarters. |
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Dooling |
November 3, 1998:
Preliminary results from the last year of American activities
aboard the space station will be reviewed at a three-day conference
in Huntsville this week. But it's not the last word on what was
achieved up there.
Among the speakers
will be Dr. Neal Pellis, project scientist for the highly promising
Space Bioreactor program. The Bioreactor grows tissue cultures
in a rotating wall vessel that ensures proper oxygenation and
nutrition for the specimens. Under these conditions, the cells
often grow into assemblies that closely resemble normal growth
on Earth, thus opening a new tool for the study of tumor development
or the growth of replacement tissues.
Also to be covered
are the results from several protein crystal growth (PCG) experiments.
PCG allows scientists to grow proteins as highly refined crystals.
Analysis on Earth then yield much finer data on the structure,
thus helping scientists in designing drugs targeted for specific
disease and disease effects.