Seeds in Space
ISA Friday December 7th 2007, updated Saturday December 9th 2007
Onboard the space shuttle Atlantis is the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Columbus module which will be mounted on the international space station (ISS). An experiment designed to demonstrate that plant seeds can survive the harsh conditions in space (part of the EuTEF EXPOSE project) will be mounted on the exterior of the Columbus module.
The project is a joint collaboration between ISA at Aarhus University and researchers from INRA/Versailles and l'Observatoire de Paris, both in France.
Earth based experiments have shown that many of the substances involved in the chemistry of life have the potential to protect DNA from being damaged by ultra violet radiation. These experiments were performed at the ultra violet beamline (UV1) at the storage ring facility ASTRID here at ISA, Aarhus University. These screening substances are found to be very abundant in the shell surrounding seeds.
Also the 5 MeV accelerator at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Aarhus University was used to assess the level of ionizing radiation seeds can withstand, without being damaged to a point where the seeds can no longer germinate and form healthy plants.
The plan for the EXPOSE project is that the seeds will stay in orbit for 18 months, after which they will return to earth to be tested. These tests will be conducted at INRA/Versailles near Paris, where, among other experiments, the seeds will be grown in green houses and tested for their ability to germinate, form plants, and produce seeds for new generations of plants.
The launch of the Space shuttle Atlantis war originally planned for Thursday 6 December. Due to a false reading in the fuel sensor system, the launch is now delayed until Wednesday 2 January. The launch can be followed at ESA's Columbus site.
People involved in this project.
Aarhus University:
Søren Vrønning Hoffmann, ISA: UV experiments, Protron irradiation. Columbus/Expose
Nykola C. Jones, ISA: UV experiments
Finn Folkmann, IFA: Protron irradiation
INRA/Versailles, France:
David Tepfer: UV experiments, Protron irradiation. Columbus/Expose
Andreja Zalar: UV experiments, Protron irradiation. Columbus/Expose
l'Observatoir de Paris, France
Sydney Leach: UV experiments, Columbus/Expose
External Links
Link to ESA's Columbus Mission: http://www.esa.int/columbusLink to danish medias coverage of the project (in danish):
DR1 TV Avisen, 9th December 2007 at 18.30:
The "Ukrudt i rummet" clip.
Full 18.30 News. Opens in Media Player. The clip starts at 18m48s and ends at 21m12s
DR Update, 6th December 2007:
"Frø på vej ud i rummet"
DR Radioavisen, 6th December 2007 at 12.00: The "Frø i rummet" clip.
Written media:
References:
Directed exospermia: I. Biological modes of resistance to UV light are implied through absorption spectroscopy of DNA and potential UV screens.
Zalar, A., Tepfer, D., Hoffmann, S.V., Kenney, J.M., Leach, S.
International Journal of Astrobiology 6 (2007) 229-240.
Directed exospermia: II. VUV-UV spectroscopy of specialized UV screens, including plant flavonoids, suggests using metabolic engineering to improve survival in space.
Zalar, A., Tepfer, D., Hoffmann, S.V., Kollmann, A., Leach, S.
International Journal of Astrobiology (2007), In press
VUV-UV absorption spectroscopy of DNA and UV screens suggests strategies for UV resistance during evolution and space travel.
Zalar, A., Tepfer, D., Hoffmann, S.V., Kollmann, A., Leach, S.
Proc. of SPIE 6694, (2007) 66940U
Last Modified 08 July 2009