PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S): 



E. Reinholz, Horst Buecker, R. Kaiser, J. P. 

 Massue, R. Pfohl, W. Enge, 0. C. Allkofer, K. 

 Bartholomae, R. Beaujean, W. Heinrich, K. Fukui, 

 Eugene V. Benton, E. Schopper, G. Henig, J. U. 

 Schott, H. Francois, and G. Portal 



EXPERIMENT TITLE/NUMBER : BIOSTACK I, II 



PROGRAM/MISSION : Apollo 16, 17 



CLASSIFICATION : Plant - European water cress seeds, ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) 



DISCIPLINE(S) : Radiobiology, Genetics, Cell biology 



OBJECTIVES : To study the biological effects of individual heavy nucleii with 

 high energy loss (HZE); to obtain as much information as possible on the 

 mechanisms of biological damage by HZE particles; to measure the charge and 

 energy spectra of cosmic radiation within the Apollo Command Module; and to 

 provide data to allow an estimate of the hazard to man from space radiation. 



PROTOCOL : Bacterial spores, protozoan cysts, plant seeds, shrimp eggs, and 

 insect eggs were studied for inhibition of germination, inhibition of cell 

 growth, inhibition of organ development, developmental anomalies in various 

 stages of growth, and mutation induction using several physical radiation 

 detectors. The BIOSTACK unit was flown in the Command Module where shielding 

 to ambient cosmic radiation was minimal. Postf light, the ground controls and 

 the flight package were disassembled and particle hits were graphed. 



EQUIPMENT : Hermetically sealed aluminum container, containing a series of 

 select biologic material each sandwiched between several types of dosimeters 

 (nuclear emulsions, cellulose nitrate, polycarbonate, LiF) , and thermistors. 



RESULTS : The plant germinated with the same frequency as the Earth-controls 

 (84$). However, the frequency of multicaulous plants grown from hit^seeds was 

 much higher than the controls. There were 18 HZE hits scored/2 X 10 seeds. 



CONCLUSIONS : The experiment confirms the assumption that HZE particle-induced 

 damage might become manifest if a significant number of nonreplaceable cells 

 are destroyed. 



PUBLICATIONS : 28, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 185, 186, 213, 420, 469 



150 



