Science Fiction Becomes Reality on the Space Station

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Science Fiction Becomes Reality on the Space Station

Posted on: Sunday, 11 May 2008,

RedOrbit - Dallas,TX*

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1380122/science_fiction_becomes_re

ality_on_the_space_station/

Any Trekkies out there? Remember the tricorder? Dr. McCoy and Mr.

Spock both carried them, and they came in mighty handy

exploring " strange new worlds ...where no one has gone before. "

On the International Space Station, astronauts are carrying an

experimental device that looks strikingly similar: LOCAD-PTS, short

for Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System. This

handheld biological lab is the first step along the path to

developing something akin to Dr. McCoy's medical tricorder.

" LOCAD is like that tricorder in that it is portable, rapid, and

detects a biochemical molecule, " says , LOCAD

scientist from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and an admitted

Star Trek fan. But while tricorders could do almost anything from

checking vital signs to finding alien life, LOCAD is a little more

specialized: " LOCAD is specifically designed to detect and identify

microbes on space station surfaces. "

It is a fact of life that wherever humans go, microbes follow.

Biologists estimate that every human body has at least a trillion

hitchhiking microbes, accounting for as much as 2% of a person's

total mass. Most live in harmony with native human cells; others can

make you sick.

LOCAD keeps track of these tiny lifeforms.

Here's how it works: An ISS crewmember uses a dry swab to take

samples of surfaces where microbes might be lurking. Flushing

sterile water through the swab converts the sample to liquid form,

and the astronaut puts a few drops into the LOCAD. What's in the

sample? The system gives its answer less than 15 minutes later. The

whole easy procedure is done on location. Nothing has to be sent

back to a lab on Earth, which would take time and introduce the

possibility of contamination en route.

" It's important to monitor bacteria on the space station so we can

find the best way to keep them under control, " says , who adds

this curiosity: " LOCAD can't yet distinguish between live and dead

bacteria. " So no one can cry out, it's dead, Jim! " We're working to

add this capability in the future. "

In addition to detecting Gram-negative1 bacteria like E. coli and

salmonella, the latest LOCAD cartridges just sent up to station

aboard shuttle mission STS-123 can alert the crew to fungi. Since

fungi actually decomposed some electronics on the Russian Space

Station MIR, they have become unwelcome " house guests. " LOCAD can

detect low concentrations of a common fungal compound; this allows

LOCAD to find fungi on surfaces before the fungi have a chance to

multiply.

works on LOCAD technology in her laboratory at the

Marshall Space Flight Center.

Credit: NASA By the end of the year, yet another cartridge will be

available for the space station. This one will detect the presence

of Gram-positive bacteria such as staphylococcus and streptococcus.

" Ultimately we want to provide cartridges for all kinds of micro-

organisms and chemical compounds, " says . " We'd even like to

be able to use our system to figure out what 'bug' an astronaut has

if he or she becomes ill. "

Monaco, LOCAD project scientist, adds her vision of the

future: " What we are developing at MSFC has use not only on the ISS,

but also on lunar missions, long duration stays on other planets,

and most certainly here on Earth. "

In the years ahead, as space voyages become longer and longer, it

will be even more imperative to have ways of checking astronauts'

health and monitoring electronics. For the record, no astronaut has

ever become seriously ill on any space mission. However, the

scientists point out that if an astronaut did ever get sick, it

would take too much time to send a sample back to Earth, have it

tested, and receive a long-distance answer. With next-generation

LOCAD technologies, detection and diagnosis would be quick, easy,

and on the spot.

Dr. McCoy, here we come.