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Spacecraft travel higher and faster than aircraft, making breakup potentially less survivable. As with aircraft breakup, the dissipation of lethal forces via spacecraft breakup around an organism is likely to greatly increase the odds of survival. By employing a knowledge of space and aviation physiology, comparative physiology, and search-and-rescue techniques, we were able to correctly predict and execute the recovery of live animals following the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia. In this study, we make what is, to our knowledge, the first report of an animal, Caenorhabditis elegans, surviving the atmospheric breakup of the spacecraft that was supporting it and discuss both the lethal events these animals had to escape and the implications for search and rescue following spacecraft breakup.
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up while reentering the Earth's atmosphere. Columbia was in the mesosphere approximately 61 km above the Earth's surface while traveling at approximately Mach 19 at the time of the main body breakup.
On the shuttle middeck was a passive Caenorhabditis elegans life-support experiment, namely the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC-14)/C elegans, which was stowed in the BRIC accessories (ACC) half locker.
The loss of spacecraft structural integrity during the breakup exposed all animals onboard to potentially lethal factors, including shear forces, heat, shock wave(s), freezing, explosive decompression, anoxia, cosmic radiation, impact with the Earth, starvation, and environmental toxicity.
The experiment onboard Space Transportation System Flight No. 107 (STS-107), Columbia, was designed to validate the on-orbit growth of C elegans on a media that permitted the automation of experimentation.
This experiment was considered an important step in establishing C elegans as a model system for space life science research, because the automation of such experimentation is desirable for space life science experiments.
The discussion of rescue practices and the observation of postbreakup video aired by the media led us to suspect that C elegans had survived. Survival required escape of lethal events associated with any catastrophic forces associated with breakup, exposure to the atmosphere, and impact with the Earth's surface. Additionally, if C elegans had survived, they would need to survive until we or others recovered them and ensured that they were alive. In this study, we discuss the lethal events these animals had to escape, our reasons for believing they had, and the implications for future search and rescue.
Surviving breakup and exposure to the atmosphere
Under normal operating conditions, spacecraft and life-support systems are designed to protect occupants from lethal events associated with exposure to the atmosphere and the lack thereof.
During these travels, life-support systems were required to maintain appropriate atmospheric gas pressure and composition, humidity, and temperature; additionally, in many cases, life-support systems were required to maintain water supply and to manage waste.
Because of the essential nature of life-support systems, redundancies and backup systems exist, as do rescue systems, which are designed to be used in the event of certain foreseeable emergencies.
A thirty-year perspective on manned space safety and rescue: where we’ve been; where we are; where we are going.
in: Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 7–13, 1984Univelt Inc,
Lausanne, Switzerland. San Diego, CA1986
Crew escape subsystems for space transportation subsystems.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 5–11, 1991Univelt Inc,
Montreal, Canada. San Diego, CA1993
Safety and mission capabilities of manned launch vehicles.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, August 28–September 5, 1992Univelt Inc,
Washington, DC. San Diego, CA1994
A lifeboat for space station: the assured crew return vehicle (ACRV).
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, August 28–September 5, 1992Univelt Inc,
Washington, DC. San Diego, CA1994
It would seem that the longer the spacecraft and life-support systems survive a breakup, the more likely it is that the breakup will be survivable. Following Columbia's breakup, video aired by the media showed that large, recognizable debris had survived the breakup and suggested the likelihood that intact or reasonably intact canisters containing live C elegans would be recovered. Experienced aircraft rescue workers know that intact debris is suggestive of a greater likelihood of survival, and we suggest the same is true for spacecraft. We suspected the spacecraft survived long enough to protect its C elegans occupants from some of the aerodynamic shear forces, frictional heat, shock waves associated with deceleration and decompression of the cabin, and freezing temperatures of the upper atmosphere. Work performed by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board suggests this is at least partially true. Reconstruction suggests that the canisters housing C elegans exited the Columbia at 660 to 1050 km h−1, 42 to 32 km above Earth,
Crew escape subsystems for space transportation subsystems.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 5–11, 1991Univelt Inc,
Montreal, Canada. San Diego, CA1993
A thirty-year perspective on manned space safety and rescue: where we’ve been; where we are; where we are going.
in: Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 7–13, 1984Univelt Inc,
Lausanne, Switzerland. San Diego, CA1986
Spacesuits are protective, and rescuers should expect a greater potential for successful crew rescue following atmospheric breakup when suits are worn. Unlike humans, C elegans can withstand up to a day of anoxia.
Therefore, the loss of atmosphere due to decompression was not a concern for the recovery of live worms. Although it has now been shown that the explosive failure of the Columbia crew module did not occur,
we felt that if the animals were to have survived, the canisters would have had to protect them from such a hazard. The flight hardware was designed to withstand a maximum decompression rate of 62.1 kPa·min−1 before exhibiting structural damage. Thus, the video showing the intact flight hardware from the middeck and the later reported identification of intact canisters bolstered our efforts to recover live C elegans (Table). Although the canisters housing the animals were not specifically designed to protect them from aerodynamic shear forces and frictional heat, analysis of the recovered canisters, which we will report elsewhere, and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's reconstruction work
in: Proceedings of the Seventh International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, September 30–October 5, 1974American Astronautical Society,
Amsterdam. Tarzana, CA1975
A thirty-year perspective on manned space safety and rescue: where we’ve been; where we are; where we are going.
in: Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 7–13, 1984Univelt Inc,
Lausanne, Switzerland. San Diego, CA1986
How to enhance safety for future space transportation systems.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 5–11, 1991Univelt Inc,
Montreal, Quebec, anada. San Diego, CA1993
or techniques that prevent the structural failure of spacecraft crew compartments in response to thermal
Caenorhabditis elegans survived the atmospheric breakup of the space shuttle Columbia. Recovered animals grown on nematode growth medium are shown on the left and are arrested at the dauer or L1 stage. Recovered animals grown on C elegans maintenance medium are shown on the right and are reproductive. The damage to the agar in the right panel is presumably due to forces associated with impacting the Earth's surface. The animals shown are from flight canister 1 and were deposited with the C elegans stock center. Photographs were taken approximately 3 hours after opening recovered flight hardware, which was approximately 3 months after the breakup of Columbia.
A comparison of mutations induced by accelerated iron particles versus those induced by low earth orbit space radiation in the FEM-3 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans.
have survived spaceflight with minimal-to-moderate radiation protection. Given the short duration of return to the Earth's surface following atmospheric breakup, exposure to cosmic radiation should not be an immediate concern for search-and-rescue operations. Although the data we will present elsewhere suggest that radiation exposure did not have long-term effects on at least some of the C elegans that survived the breakup, the inclusion of radiation protection in spacesuits worn by crews while traveling through the atmosphere seems prudent.
Surviving impact with the Earth's surface
Even though surface impact is likely the proximate cause of death in both the Soyuz 1 and STS-51L (Challenger) tragedies,
Crew escape subsystems for space transportation subsystems.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 5–11, 1991Univelt Inc,
Montreal, Canada. San Diego, CA1993
we were not concerned that C elegans would be killed on impact, as they can withstand brief exposure to 100 000 gravities (L. Avery, unpublished data, 1987). With respect to the rescue of future spacecrews, we suggest, as is already known for aircraft crash rescue, that surface impact need not be a lethal event. Although in-flight crew egress from a breaking-up or crashing spacecraft is likely to indicate an increased probability of survival, the lack of signs of egress should not be assumed to indicate the lack of crew survival. Similarly, although future spacecraft designs should continue to consider egress systems for both structurally intact and damaged spacecraft, the lack of such systems in a spacecraft should not be taken as an indication that spacecraft breakup or ground impact is not survivable. Additionally, as is the case with automobiles, occupants of spacecraft that have incorporated impact force countermeasures in their design should be considered to have a higher probability of survival.
Surviving until recovery
As with the survival of aircraft breakups and crashes, spacecrews must survive not only the immediate event but also the interim until search-and-rescue crews arrive. C elegans can survive 6 months in the absence of food by entering a “dormant”
Starvation was not a concern, provided we recovered the animals within 6 months, as was the case (Table). As shown in the left panel of the Figure, animals grown on nematode growth media (NGM)
were indeed dauer. Some were also growth arrested in the first larval stage, as is seen in response to starvation. As shown in the right panel of the Figure, animals grown on C elegans maintenance media (CeMM)
were actively reproducing, which indicates that these animals had not yet exhausted the food source. Presumably, the animals grown on NGM were born in orbit and entered the dauer state as the result of an expected exhaustion of food during the spaceflight, whereas the animals grown on CeMM were several generations removed from those born in orbit. An exact analysis of the number of generations that the CeMM-grown animals were removed from the breakup of the shuttle is complicated by a number of factors, including the invasion of the flight hardware that contained the organisms by an airborne imperfect mold capable of killing C elegans. As previously stated, additional details of the experiment, its packaging, and the hardware recovery and analysis will be presented elsewhere. What is remarkable and relevant to this report is that these animals survived despite both the factors previously discussed and the wide postimpact temperature variation. C elegans is typically grown on NGM at 16°C to 25°C, where a linear relationship between temperature and life span exists, whereas at 6°C, animals fail to reach reproductive maturity.
Temperatures recorded inside the recovered canisters, by autonomous data loggers, indicate average daily temperatures of 4.1°C to 19.7°C prior to recovery.
The US and Russian manned space programs are aware of the survival concerns that exist following spacecraft touchdown and in-flight egress, if not also breakup. Both provide crews with survival training and gear. We suspect the same is true of the Chinese manned space program but not true of all of the X Prize competitors. The recent return of the Expedition 6 crew members via a Soyuz spacecraft highlights the fact that the arrival of search-and-rescue teams may be delayed, even for spacecraft that do not break up and crews that are not in immediate danger. The survival training of crews and the inclusion of survival kits should be considered to increase the probability of survival. As is true for aircraft ejection, survival gear physically stored with a crew member is more likely to be accessible following breakup than is gear stored elsewhere in the spacecraft. Furthermore, gear protected by encapsulation or by being within a spacesuit is more likely to survive a breakup. Analysis of crew training, survival gear, physical proximity of gear to crew, and location of spacecraft breakup should give rescuers an idea of how long the crew is likely to be able to survive in the absence of immediately life-threatening injuries.
We propose that for spacecraft breakup, as is standard with all search-and-rescue missions, elapsed time is a factor in determining the survivability of life-threatening injuries. Therefore, the use of measures to increase the efficiency of locating surviving crew members, such as individual emergency locator transmitters and differential global positioning systems, can be critical. Specifically, the use of active signals from such devices is often associated with the increased survivability of life-threatening injuries following spacecraft breakup. In the absence of active signals from such devices, we propose that standard aircraft search-and-rescue techniques will prove useful, as was the case for C elegans.
To aid in searches for spacecrews, teams should be familiar with spacecraft design or be supplemented with individuals knowledgeable about the spacecraft. Such knowledge is essential for focusing search efforts on regions that are associated with a higher likelihood for successful rescue. For incidents occurring in areas where the media are likely to be active, such as was the case with Columbia, the use of spacecraft knowledge while media broadcasts are being monitored should also aid in the partitioning of search-and-rescue resources. The discovery of live biological payloads following breakup may signal an increased probability of crew survival. However, unless individuals who are knowledgeable about the biological payloads are in close proximity to search efforts, the analysis of biological payloads is more likely to be productive in reconstruction than in search efforts.
Conclusion
To our knowledge, we report the first survival of an animal following the atmospheric breakup of the spacecraft that was supporting it. Its survival clearly demonstrates that atmospheric spacecraft breakup is an event that can be survived. Animals differ in size and have different physiologic systems, requirements, and tolerances. As a result, animals have different potentials for surviving an atmospheric spacecraft breakup. Reconstructive work on other biological payloads onboard Columbia has not been published, making it inappropriate for us to comment on their fate. When space travel was first attempted, animals were used to probe the human physiologic ability to survive spaceflight.
that spacecrews could survive atmospheric spacecraft breakup given appropriate levels of protection. Our observations highlight the need to carefully evaluate existing search-and-rescue procedures as well as crew survival systems for inadequacies that may have arisen because of the belief that spacecraft breakup is not survivable. “These things we do, that others may live”—US Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
In Memoriam
STS-107
R. Husband, W. McCool, D. Brown, L. Clark, I. Ramon, M. Anderson, K. Chawala
STS-51L
F. Scobee, M. Smith, E. Onizuka, J. Resnik, R. McNair, G. Jarvis, C. McAuliffe
and the CAIB for recovery and recovery details of flight hardware. N.J.S. thanks the Civil Air Patrol Ranger program for training and experience in successful aircraft search and rescue. We thank D. Reed, F. Ahmay, and G. Etheridge for obtaining release of the hardware from the CAIB. We thank J. Bagian, R. Mancinelli, L. Jacobson, D. Reed, D. Loftus, and K. Cullings for useful discussions. C elegans wild-type strain N2 was provided by Stuart Kim. G. Stephenson and T. Pohle provided library support. Strains CC2 (recovered N2) and CC3 (recovered CC1
) were deposited with the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, which is funded by the NIH NCRR. The STS-107 C elegans life-support experiment was funded by NASA Fundamental Biology and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The PI of the experiment was C. Conley of NASA Ames Space Life Research Branch.
References
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A thirty-year perspective on manned space safety and rescue: where we’ve been; where we are; where we are going.
in: Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 7–13, 1984Univelt Inc,
Lausanne, Switzerland. San Diego, CA1986
Crew escape subsystems for space transportation subsystems.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 5–11, 1991Univelt Inc,
Montreal, Canada. San Diego, CA1993
Safety and mission capabilities of manned launch vehicles.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, August 28–September 5, 1992Univelt Inc,
Washington, DC. San Diego, CA1994
A lifeboat for space station: the assured crew return vehicle (ACRV).
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, August 28–September 5, 1992Univelt Inc,
Washington, DC. San Diego, CA1994
in: Proceedings of the Seventh International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, September 30–October 5, 1974American Astronautical Society,
Amsterdam. Tarzana, CA1975
How to enhance safety for future space transportation systems.
in: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth International Space Rescue and Safety Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, October 5–11, 1991Univelt Inc,
Montreal, Quebec, anada. San Diego, CA1993
A comparison of mutations induced by accelerated iron particles versus those induced by low earth orbit space radiation in the FEM-3 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans.
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