Document Type

Presentation

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Proceedings of the 16th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference

Location

Cocoa Beach, FL

Publication Date

4-6-2022

First Page

1

Last Page

4

Abstract

A novel system has been developed to simulate the combined effects of reduced gravity and ionizing radiation present during spaceflight on biological and particulate samples. The miniature rotary cell culture system (mRCCS) was designed to synchronously rotate up to five independent vessels containing particulate samples suspended in fluid media, constructed using radiation tolerant, biocompatible, and vacuum compatible materials. Reduced gravity conditions were achieved when particles (e.g., 200 µm polystyrene microcarrier beads with or without adhered cell clusters) were suspended inside the vessels moving near terminal velocity in viscous fluid media with densities matched to the suspended particles to achieve neutral buoyancy and minimal effective gravity. Variations in centripetal acceleration from slow rotation of the vessels limited reduced gravity environments from ~2·10-2 to < 1·10-5 g, comparable to similar commercially available systems. The effective gravitational acceleration experienced by the suspended particles was calibrated by tracking of particles within the mRCCS systems vessels. The entire mRCCS apparatus can be used in a standalone configuration for independent reduced gravity simulations or can be introduced into the Utah State University's Space Survivability Test (SST) chamber for radiation exposure or simultaneous radiation exposure under reduced gravity. The SST chamber has a ~90 mCi 90Sr source that emits 0.2 to 2.5 MeV β radiation. The combined mRCCS and SST chamber system can provide average effective dose rates for the suspended particles, controlled over a broad range ( > 900X) from ~3.7 mGy/day to 3.4 Gy/day by varying the source-to-sample distance and using varying slit width graphite shields. This system can provide stable, simultaneous space-like radiation and reduced gravity environments for experiments conducted on timescales of minutes to months.

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