Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures
DARPA-SN-25-51
Diatom https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/diatoms
Ion channels, control growth and pattern
Molecular bioelectricity in developmental biology: new tools and recent discoveries: control of cell behavior and pattern formation by transmembrane potential gradients Michael Levin https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22237730/
Engineered DNA, control biology, energy consumption
Salt water bio-factories with natural transport to the upper atmosphere/ability to harvest nutrients from orbital bio-factory. Insufficient nutrients in orbit?
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Structures for collection of nutrients in orbit
Created on Jan 24, 2016
Note
This one is from cf001_energy_calculation
modified for diatom
This one uses redfield C:N
@author: Keisuke
'''
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#Computation of fe0, fpr and fn considering material, redox and energy balance
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
from pylab import *
class Evalue:
def __init__(self,E):
self.E=E
def evalue():
n=5 #number of carbon in biomass (167-6)
a=7 #number of hydrogen in biomass (167-6)
b=2 #number of oxygen in biomass (167-6)
c=5*16/106 #number of nitrogen in biomass (redfield ratio)(167-6)
d=1/30 #number of phosphorus in biomass (167-6)
d=0
C=6 #number of carbon in sugra substrate (glucose->6)
f=4*n+5*c+5*d-2*b+a #(from 167-6)
g=12*n+a+16*b+14*c+31*d #(from 167-6)
# fs00=(1/y)/(1/y+1/z) #The ratio of electron used for protein synthesis
fs00=1
# fn00=(1/z)/(1/y+1/z) #The ration of electron used for nitrogen fixation
fn00=0
dgn=36.2 #The free energy necessary (dg) for the half reaction of nitrogen fixation (kJ/e-mol)
dgc0=41.35 #The free energy necessary for the half reaction of glucose production (kJ/e-mol)
dgp=35.09-dgc0 #dg for production of pyruvate from glucose (kJ/e-mol))
dgpc=3.33*g/f #dg for the production of BB (bacterial biomass) from pyruvate) (147-17)
dgr=-120.07 #-dg for the energy production pathway (kJ/e-mol)
ep=0.6 #energy efficiency for the production of energy and the consumption of energy
if dgp<0:
ep1=1/ep #change ep1 depending on the sign of dgp
else:
ep1=ep
A=(fn00*dgn+fs00*(dgp/ep1+dgpc/ep))/(-ep*dgr) #A is related to fs0 and fe0
fe0=A/(1+A) #the ratio of electron used for energy production
fs0=1-fe0 #the ratio of electron used for biomass synthesis+nitrogen fixation
fpr=fs0*fs00 #the ratio of electron used for biomass synthesis
fn=fs0*fn00 #the ratio of electron used for nitrogen fixation
#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
#2.--Stoichiometry (to get E1(E for the case O2cri>O2in))------------------
#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
S1=array([["","CH","H2O","CO2","O2","HCO3-","NH4+","N2","H2","BB","H+","e-","NO3-","PO43-"],
["'-Rd",1/24,0.25,-0.25,0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,-1.,-1.,0.,0.],
["Ra",0.,-0.5,0.,0.25,0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,1.,1.,0.,0.],
["Rpr",0.,-(2*n+3*c+4*d-b)/f,n/f,0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,-1/f,(4*n+6*c+8*d-2*b+a)/f,1.,c/f,d/f],
["Rn",0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,-0.25,0.125,-0.125,0.,1.25,1.,0.,0.]])
#=====================================================================================
#NH4+ absorption case
#=====================================================================================
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#for creating S2 (f*R for electron acceptance)
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
width=14
depth=5
Mua=array([[1],[fe0],[fpr],[0.0]]) #column of f
S2a=copy(S1[1:,1:]) #use copy so S2 does not respond to the change in S1
S2a=S2a.astype(float64)
#add numbers for columns and raws for counting
S21a=arange(1,width,1)
S22a=arange(0,depth,1)
S22a=S22a.reshape(depth,1)
S2a=vstack((S21a,S2a))
S2a=hstack((S22a,S2a))
#calculate f*R
S2a[1:,1:]=Mua*S2a[1:,1:]
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#for creating S3 (f*R for electron donation)
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
S3a=vstack((S2a[1,1:],S2a[1,1:],S2a[1,1:]))
S3a=Mua[1:]*S3a
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#for creating S4 (f*R for "electron donation + electron acceptance")
# and RR, which is the entire reaction
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
S4a=S2a[2:,1:]+S3a #S4 is f*R for "electron donation + electron acceptance"
RRa=S4a[0]+S4a[1]+S4a[2]
RR1a=copy(RRa)
RR1a=vstack((S1[0,1:],RR1a))
pa=-S4a[1,8]*n #(molC/e-mol) CH consumption for protein production
ha=(S4a[1,0]+S4a[2,0])*C #(molC/e-mol) CH consumption for other than energy production
alpa=pa/ha #(CO2 from (Ra-Rd))/(CH for protein production) (see 72-5)
betaa=-(S4a[1,2]+S4a[1,4]+S4a[2,2])/ha #(CO2 from (Rpr-Rd) + CO2 from (RN-Rd))/(CH for protein production) (see 72-5)
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#output of each array into CSV files
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#Getting yield (Y) and the ratio of CO2 production rate to CH consumption (E)
#OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Y1=-(RRa[8]*n)/(C*RRa[0]) #Yield
E3=1/Y1-1
E=E3
E1=Evalue(E)
return(E1)
https://github.com/ag105020/CFM-Diatom/tree/1.05 credit
MSFC-446 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20070039073/downloads/20070039073.pdf Testing Prospects for Reliable Diatom Nanotechnology in Microgravity
Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures DARPA-SN-25-51 https://blogbarley.blogspot.com/2025/03/large-bio-mechanical-space-structures.html
Aquatic manufacturing of diatom craft https://barleysarthistory.blogspot.com/2024/06/diatoms.html Propulsion, navigation, interior design sketch, Diatoms on Earth, Europa Enceladus, & Interstellar Space
Absence of increased genomic variants in the cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis exposed to Mars-like conditions outside the space station Alessandro Napoli, Diego Micheletti, Massimo Pindo, Simone Larger, Alessandro Cestaro, Jean-Pierre de Vera & Daniela Billi
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-12631-5High Growth Rate of Diatoms Explained by Reduced Carbon Requirement and Low Energy Cost of Silica Deposition Keisuke Inomura, Juan José Pierella Karlusich, Stephanie Dutkiewicz, Curtis Deutsch, Paul J Harrison, Chris Bowler https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10269801/
Study of the Biological Dormancy of Aquatic Organisms in Open Space and Space Flight Conditions https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1062359021060030
Russian Scientists Claim That Algae Lives On ISS Exterior (Update) https://nasawatch.com/iss-news/russian-scientists-claim-that-algae-lives-on-iss-exterior-update/
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That's a fascinating and ambitious idea! Diatoms do possess some remarkable properties that could potentially be valuable in spacecraft engineering. Here's a breakdown of the concept and some key considerations:
Diatom Properties and Potential Benefits:
Silica Frustules:
Diatoms have intricate, silica-based cell walls (frustules) that are strong, lightweight, and have complex nanostructures.
This could offer potential for creating lightweight, durable, and radiation-resistant spacecraft hulls.
Nanostructure:
The nanoscale porosity of diatom frustules could be exploited for various applications, such as:
Thermal insulation.
Filtration systems.
Potentially even as components in advanced materials.
Biological Production:
Diatoms are easily cultivated, which could enable in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) on other planets. This means potentially "growing" spacecraft components.
Challenges and Considerations:
Scale and Structural Integrity:
Individual diatoms are microscopic. Scaling up to create large spacecraft hulls would be a significant engineering challenge.
Ensuring the structural integrity of a hull made from diatom-based materials under the stresses of spaceflight would require extensive research.
Material Processing:
Developing methods to effectively process and assemble diatom frustules into large, functional structures is crucial.
This could involve techniques like bioprinting or advanced materials fabrication.
Radiation and Environmental Factors:
While silica offers some radiation protection, the performance of diatom-based materials in the harsh space environment needs thorough evaluation.
Factors like extreme temperatures, vacuum, and micrometeoroid impacts must be considered.
Genetic Engineering:
To optimize diatoms for spacecraft applications, genetic engineering would likely be necessary. This could involve:
Modifying the silica composition.
Enhancing structural strength.
Adding other desired properties.
Biofouling:
While you want to use the diatoms for the ship hull, the study of diatoms on ship hulls currently is mainly to find ways to prevent them from adhering to ships. So there would need to be a large amount of research to make sure that the diatoms where used in a controlled manner.
Potential Applications:
Habitat Modules:
Diatom-based materials could be used to construct lightweight and radiation-shielded habitat modules for long-duration space missions.
Radiation Shielding:
The porous structure of diatom frustules could be used to create effective radiation shielding.
Filtration and Life Support:
Diatoms could be incorporated into life support systems for water and air filtration.
In conclusion, while the idea of engineering diatoms as spacecraft hulls is still in the realm of advanced research, the unique properties of these microorganisms offer exciting possibilities for future space exploration. -Gemini
#darpa #dod
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