#NASA LOCAD PORTABLE#

It is believed that this type of rapid and portable technology has the potential to monitor the spread of Earth-derived biological material on the lunar surface following future lunar landings. This technology may eventually be used operationally to assess water, air, and food supplies in addition to common ISS surfaces. LOCAD-PTS technology benefits space flight by offering a drastic reduction in time for detection of fungi as well as gram negative and gram positive bacteria (minutes versus days) on ISS, thus demonstrating an alternative to the current methods for weekly monitoring of cleanliness, such as swabbing or culturing on petri dishes. This is beneficial for developing capabilities of all types on Earth, but also for providing advanced monitoring on spacecraft, and for future applications for planetary protection.Įarth-based applications of LOCAD-PTS procedures include detecting hyperthermophiles (organism that thrives in extremely hot environments) in active volcanic craters, the detection of lethal viral outbreaks, and the evaluation of biological attacks in a military or civilian situation. Significance: The real-time data analysis provided by the compact LOCAD-PTS hardware allows biochemical analysis to be done anywhere. Conducted on Expeditions 18-20, it marks the first time that external surfaces of a spacecraft have been sampled for biological material during extra-vehicular activity, followed by analysis within the cabin environment. Jake Maule of BAE Systems, evolved from LOCAD-PTS to evaluate procedures for testing contamination for purposes of planetary protection. The LOCAD-PTS reader, cartridge and swabbing unit. Some blood analysis has already been done on ISS using the Portable Clinical Blood Analyzer (PCBA). As the number of cartridge types on ISS increases, LOCAD-PTS’s applications will increase to include monitoring the cabin environment for other biological and chemical contaminants, and possibly monitoring blood and saliva of the crew to support medical diagnostics. Three types of cartridges were flown to detect three groups of microorganisms: endotoxin (a marker of gram-negative bacteria), glucan (fungi) and lipoteichoic acid (gram-positive bacteria). LOCAD-PTS was operated during Expeditions 14 through 20, testing various sites throughout ISS, including several chosen by the crew. The study's purpose is to effectively provide a rapid indication of biological cleanliness to help crew monitor microorganisms in the ISS cabin environment. Astronauts swab surfaces within the cabin, mix swabbed material in liquid form to the LOCAD-PTS, and obtain results within 15 minutes on a display screen.

Norman Wainwright of Charles River Laboratories, uses a commercial-off-the-shelf handheld device used for rapid detection of biological and chemical substances on surfaces aboard ISS. The Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) study, led by Dr. Given the limited mass and volume on ISS, such assessments usually require sample return to Earth, which may take weeks or months. (NASA Image ISS014E18822) What was done on ISS: Rapid assessment of biological and chemical surface contamination is important for ensuring astronaut health. Astronaut Suni Williams, Expedition 14 flight engineer, places the sample from the swabbing unit into the LOCAD-PTS cartridge.

Nasa locad