Real-time studies on microalgae under microgravity

The response of antioxidant systems in Nostoc sphaeroides against UV-B radiation and the protective effects of exogenous antioxidants

“…This species is very easy to culture and harvest since the usual colony size is between 0.5 and 2 cm, and is regarded as a potential food candidate par excellence for CELSS (Wang et al, 2004a). For the present experiments, the species was cultured in BG-110 (fixed nitrogen-free BG-11, Rippka et al, 1979) medium at 25 ± 1°C, 40 lmol photon m À2 s À1 light and bubbled with air.…”

“…As a result, Mars has a higher flux of ultraviolet radiation at wavelengths shorter than 290 nm, which is usually the most biologically harmful type (Cockell et al, 2000(Cockell et al, , 2005. An increase in UV-B radiation will have potentially detrimental effects on earth organisms when they are brought to Mars for terreforming and for establishing CELSS (Closed Ecological Life Support system) in spaceflight (Wang et al, 2004a(Wang et al, ,b, 2006, especially for photoautotrophs that require solar light for energy and biomass synthesis. There is abundant evidence of the adverse effects of UV-B radiation on living organisms, including dimerization of pyrimidine bases, membrane damage, protein destruction and hormone inactivation (Palmer et al, 2002;He et al, 2002;He and Häder, 2002b).…”

Population growth and physiological characteristics of microalgae in a miniaturized bioreactor during space flight

“…In order to establish good CELSS which can operate in rational, precise, effective and easily controlled procedure, it is necessary to choose adapted species of organisms to establish highly efficient bioreactor that can realize the main functions of CELSS (supplying oxygen, water and food, carbon dioxide removing, and also making daily life waste reusable). Aquatic organisms were regarded as suitable candidates par excellence in the establishment of CELSS because of their high adaptation to the weightless condition that approximate to their wild condition in water [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Establishment of CELSS by algae reactor was recommended by many researches because of algae's valuable characteristics like high photosynthesis rate, high protein content, fast growth and simple culture condition needed [7,8].…”

A simple closed aquatic ecosystem (CAES) for space

“…For our studies, the measured transmission was an indicator, proportional to the optical density at 665 nm (OD 665nm ) of algae in a limited range (Wang et al, 2004a(Wang et al, ,b, 2006. The concentration of microalgae was calculated from the intensity of the transmitted light.…”