BIOPAN on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
BIOPAN is a multi-user research program by the European Space Agency (ESA) designed to investigate the effect of the space environment on biological material. The experiments in BIOPAN are exposed to solar and cosmic radiation, the space vacuum and weightlessness, or a selection thereof. Optionally, the experiment temperature can be stabilized. BIOPAN hosts astrobiology,
Surviving the Final Frontier
25 November 2002.
BIOPAN is a multi-user research program by the European Space Agency (ESA) designed to investigate the effect of the space environment on biological material. The experiments in BIOPAN are exposed to solar and cosmic radiation, the space vacuum and weightlessness, or a selection thereof. Optionally, the experiment temperature can be stabilized. BIOPAN hosts astrobiology, radiobiology
Radiobiology (also known as radiation biology, and uncommonly as actinobiology) is a field of clinical and basic medical sciences that involves the study of the action of ionizing radiation on living things, especially health effects of radiation. ...
and materials science experiments.
The BIOPAN facility is installed on the external surface of Russian Foton descent capsules protruding from the thermal blanket that envelops the satellite.
Design and features
The BIOPAN program started in the early nineties with an ESA contract for the a joint development byKayser-Threde
Kayser-Threde GmbH based in Munich, Germany is a systems house specializing in applications in manned and unmanned space missions, optics, telematics, crash test data acquisition, and process control for the rail sector. On September 1, 2014, Breme ...
and Kayser Italia. It was based on the heritage of a low-tech Russian exposure container called KNA (''Kontejner Nauchnoj Apparatury''). The BIOPAN facilities are installed on the external surface of Foton descent capsules. It has a motor-driven hinged lid, which opens 180° in Earth orbit to expose the experiment samples to the harsh space environment. For re-entry
Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
, the closed facility is protected with an Ablative heat shield.
The BIOPAN facilities are equipped with thermometers, UV sensors, a radiometer, a pressure sensor and an active radiation dosimeter
A radiation dosimeter is a device that measures dose uptake of external ionizing radiation. It is worn by the person being monitored when used as a personal dosimeter, and is a record of the radiation dose received. Modern electronic personal d ...
. Data acquired by the sensors is stored by BIOPAN throughout each mission and can be accessed after flight. The possibility of overheating during atmospheric re-entry was acknowledged early during the development, therefore, a quite massive heat shield was designed for it. While the total weight of BIOPAN is close to 27 kg, including the experiments, the heat shield is responsible for 12 kg of that figure.
The BIOPAN electronics consists of the following units: signal acquisition board, microcontroller board with its flight software, memory board and EGSE.
Missions
The missions flown so far are:25 November 2002.
See also
* Bion * Biosatellite program * EXPOSE * List of microorganisms tested in outer space * O/OREOS * OREOcube *Tanpopo
was a sub-group of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1998 as Morning Musume's first sub-group. While the main group Morning Musume features predomin ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:BIOPAN Astrobiology space missions Cosmic rays Extremophiles Microbial growth and nutrition Molecular biology Space exposure experiments Space-flown life Space hardware returned to Earth intact