The launch of the SpaceX Dragon mission that took place earlier/NASA update/Travel@Azamsyed

Travel@Azamsyed

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00:00the launch of the SpaceX Dragon mission that took place earlier this week.

00:04And NASA has provided an update with some really cool information

00:07about the experiments that are going to be performed

00:10on board the International Space Station by the Crew-4 astronauts.

00:15One experiment is particularly interesting.

00:18It's all about DNA repair mechanisms.

00:21And this is important because we're trying to understand

00:23what happens to our bodies when we go into space for long periods of time.

00:28What effect does weightlessness have on our bodies?

00:31But also, we're looking further ahead to sending astronauts on the Artemis missions to the moon

00:36and eventually perhaps even sending people to Mars.

00:39So this research is really critical.

00:42And NASA have given us a bit more information about how they're going to perform this experiment.

00:47So let's get into that.

00:49But first of all, if you haven't already done so, please consider subscribing.

00:53I try to make videos about twice a week, usually Wednesday and Saturday.

00:59And what I would love is for you guys to come along for the ride and join the community.

01:03You can watch the videos, and if you enjoy them, hit that subscribe button.

01:08You can also check out my new channel, which I made with a friend.

01:13We basically just talk about everything up there and everything down here,

01:17current events and space exploration.

01:19So if you want to check that out, that's great too.

01:22So the four astronauts who launched on the SpaceX Dragon capsule named Endurance

01:27are all very experienced astronauts.

01:29They include NASA astronaut Cheryl Lindgren, Robert Hines, a NASA astronaut and the commander

01:36of the mission, Samantha Cristoforetti, an astronaut from the European Space Agency

01:41and also a cosmonaut from the Russian Space Agency.

01:45They launched successfully on April, and they will spend several months on board the International

01:51Space Station where they'll be performing science experiments.

01:55One of the major investigations that they will be involved in is called the One More Space

02:00Investigation.

02:01This is all about looking at how the human body adapts to being in space.

02:05There are a number of different projects within this investigation.

02:09The one that I thought was particularly interesting was the DNA repair project.

02:15So here's what NASA has said about this particular experiment.

02:19Cells continuously accumulate DNA damages from exposure to agents such as ultraviolet radiation,

02:26ionizing radiation, and certain chemicals.

02:29Normally, cells repair this damage to maintain genomic stability.

02:33However, in space, the mechanisms underlying DNA repair are altered and become less efficient,

02:41leading to the accumulation of unrepaired DNA lesions.

02:45In space, it has been observed that the rate of DNA damage in human cells increases significantly.

02:52UV radiation is thought to be one of the main contributors to DNA damage in space.

02:58UV radiation is present both on Earth and in space.

03:02However, in space, the levels of UV radiation can be much higher than on Earth

03:08due to the lack of atmosphere to filter it.

03:11Ionizing radiation is another major concern.

03:14In space, ionizing radiation comes mainly from galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events.

03:21These particles can interact with atoms in the human body,

03:25knocking electrons away from molecules and causing them to become ions.

03:29These ions can then react with other molecules, damaging DNA and other cellular components.

03:35Now, the International Space Station flies through a Van Allen belt of high-energy protons and neutrons

03:42every time it passes through the Earth's atmosphere.

03:45This belt of radiation was discovered back in 1958,

03:49and it's named after the guy who discovered it, James Van Allen.

03:53And it's split into two separate regions, the inner and outer Van Allen belts.

03:58The inner belt contains high-energy protons, and the outer belt contains high-energy electrons.

04:04Now, the intensity of these belts can vary a lot depending on solar activity.

04:09When the sun is active, it ejects plasma and magnetic fields into space,

04:14and that can disturb the Van Allen belts, altering their intensity.

04:18To understand the impact of these radiation belts on the human body,

04:22NASA have built a device called the Spaceborne United States Miniaturized Radiation and Environment Experimental System,

04:29or, sorry, SURF.

04:31And they've sent that to the International Space Station to help answer questions related to crew health and safety.

04:37It was sent to the station in the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft back in December 2021.

04:43It's actually sat on the space station since then, waiting for the right crew to come along to operate it.

04:49And now the Dragon mission astronauts are going to start operating this equipment.

04:54So the device has three key elements to it.

04:56There's a biological experiment module, there's a dosimeter, and there's a radiation monitor.

05:02Now the biological experiment module contains various cell cultures that can be exposed to radiation to study the effects.

05:09It has sample ports where different types of cells can be loaded into the device.

05:14There are three of these sample ports.

05:17Port A is designed for human cells, and ports B and C are for plant cells.

05:23Port B can be exposed to low doses of radiation, while port C can be exposed to high doses of radiation.

05:30The cells in these ports can be kept either at normal room temperature or at a lower temperature,

05:35which simulates storage in a spacecraft freezer.

05:38Now each sample port has a light port and a magnetic stirrer to mix things up a little bit.

05:45Port A also has a gas inlet port to introduce gases like oxygen or other gases into the system.

05:51The second part is the dosimeter, and this is used to measure the radiation dose that the cells receive during the experiment.

05:59There are two types of dosimeters inside SURF.

06:02One type uses thermoluminescent dosimeters, which are solid-state devices that trap energy when exposed to radiation,

06:10and the other dosimeters use optically stimulated luminescence, which are similar to TLDS,

06:16but they respond to visible light rather than X-rays.

06:20The third part is the radiation monitor,

06:23and this is used to monitor the radiation environment around the space station.

06:27It contains Geiger-Müller detectors to measure the amount of radiation coming from outside the space station,

06:34and it can also identify different types of radiation particles based on their energy and charge.

06:40So NASA says that the aim of the SURF experiment is to quantify the effects of the space radiation on the human body.

06:47This will be done by irradiating human cells with known doses of radiation in space,

06:53and then analyzing the cells to understand how they have been affected.

06:57The cells will be analyzed for things like cell viability, changes in gene expression, and mutations.

07:04The idea is that by understanding how cells are affected by radiation in space,

07:09researchers can develop strategies to mitigate the risks of space travel.

07:13This could involve things like giving astronauts medications before they go into space to protect them against radiation,

07:19developing new technologies to shield astronauts from radiation,

07:23or developing new countermeasures to help astronauts recover from the effects of radiation once they return to Earth.

07:29This is really exciting stuff.

07:32And it's one of those things that is so vital to do because we want to send humans to Mars,

07:37and the radiation that they would face on that journey would be huge compared to what we experience here on Earth.

07:45So it's really important to understand how we can protect the crew on such journeys.

07:50The expected duration of the SURF experiment is six months.

07:54That's the length of the typical mission for astronauts on the International Space Station.

07:59However, the data collected in this experiment will be analyzed for up to a year after the experiment is completed.

08:06I hope you found that interesting.

08:08If you did, please remember to subscribe, and I'll see you next time.

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