The Compact Irradiator Modulus Designed for DNA Repair and Mutagenesis Studies in ISS Microgravity Environment Using UVA Emitted by Light-Emitting Diodes

Abstract

This work presents the design and characteristics of a new compact ultraviolet (UV) irradiator used in a biological onboard space flight experiment. The experiment, called DRM, took place in the International Space Station research facility (ISS-13 expedition), during the Centenary Mission (Russian-Brazil) in March-April 2006. The DRM main objective was to correlate the DNA repair mechanism and mutagenesis with microgravity. A compact irradiator apparatus was designed for DRM to allow in situ induced radiation in space. This apparatus, called CIM, uses UV-A Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with 375 nm wavelength as molecular lesions inducers on four bacterial E. coli strains. The manned space mission restrictions were focused on during the CIM main parts design. The ultraviolet dosimetry is also described in this document as DRM experiment results and the CIM operational data are reported to certify the CIM design and DRM protocol compatibility in space application.