UPDATE # 1 - August 23, 1996

PART 1: Welcome to the Project
PART 2: Preparing the Beetle Activity Monitor
PART 3: My First Trip to Moscow

Over the next semester, you will receive a unique perspective on
NASA's life science research being conducted on the Russian Mir
space station. Through this maillist, you will receive regular
Field Journals from the men and women who are typically
behind the scenes. You will hear from the space researchers
who are anxious for new data about gravitational and space
biology. The people preparing the experiments, who live and
breathe the excitement of creating space missions will share their
thoughts. These behind-the-scenes reports will offer a glimpse of
the day-to-day activities required, including the broad diversity of
skills needed as we push on new scientific frontiers.

S/MORE has a dedicated online archive available now (but constantly
expanding). It includes the complete collection of Field Journals,
biographies of Life Science people, an image gallery, a collection of
classroom projects and much more. This "continuous construction"
Web site can be found at 

As S/MORE evolves, special activities will be scheduled. For
example, an activity which gets students around the nation and the
world sharing data and ideas will become available in October. As
well, a series of special WebChat and CU-SeeMe sessions with NASA
folks will be scheduled. And your students will always have an
opportunity to email their own questions to these NASA folks.
As details emerge they will be announced on this updates-sm
mailing list.

Presently, we plan to publish these email updates about twice per
month. The frequency will increase as the school year starts and the
S/MORE project hits its stride.

Throughout the S/MORE project, our team will be interested
in receiving your ideas and feedback. Send any comments to Duncan
Atchison (Duncan_Atchison@qmgate.arc.nasa.gov) or to Marc Siegel
(marc@quest.arc.nasa.gov).

We hope that S/MORE will prove to be an exciting learning resource
for you and your students.

Thanks for your interest,

Duncan Atchison			Marc Siegel
Lockheed-Martin			Sterling Software
NASA Ames Space Life Sciences	NASA K-12 Internet Initiative

June 30, 1996
We recently found out that we need to get the drawings released for the
Beetle Activity Monitor (BAM). That basically means that we need to get
the drawings sent around for certain signatures to verify that a certain
design is acceptable. If any changes need to be made it becomes a big deal,
so you want to make sure you get it right the first time.

One of the things I was worried about, just by looking at the design, is the
positive ventilation system that air is pumped into it. A positive ventilation
system is a manual pump system used to ventilate the beetle habitats.
Another item that we design engineers have to be aware of is the lack of
convection air currents in the shuttle or MIR.

Convection is the movement of a gas or liquid due to a difference of density
and weight. For example, warm air, because of its lower density and
corresponding weight, rises through colder air in a room or the Earth's
atmosphere. As the warmer air cools, it falls, thereby creating air currents.
In an environment that lacks the effects of gravity, warm air has a lower
density but not a weight difference compared to colder air. Therefore, the
air does not move on its own.

The point of this long explanation is that we here on Earth get a lot of
natural ventilation due to convection. In the case of our beetle experiment,
since we could not rely on convection to provide natural ventilation we
needed to include a mechanical ventilation system.

I was wondering where the air was actually going. So I just wanted to make
sure that if we pumped air into the BAM, the ventilation would continue to
work. I had one of my coworkers, who smokes cigarettes, blow smoke
into the BAM to do a smoke simulation to figure out where the air was
going.

You find that a lot of times you run through these little tests. Although
there will be formal tests, you want to do these little tests to verify
that something is working correctly. If I come up with a theory that
there might be a problem with the ventilation in BAM, even though it
might be better than I thought, it still may not be good enough. You
come up with ideas that there may be problems and they must be tested for.
Blowing smoke into the BAM was my quick and dirty test that verified
I would have to make some changes.

You have to come up with a plan that tells what testing will be done. We
don't produce large amounts of any of our hardware. Each part is different
from each piece of hardware to make sure that they will work.

In my mind, the worst possible scenario is that we design something and
send it up on the shuttle and it doesn't work. It's very expensive to get
equipment in space. We want to be able to visually inspect equipment and
verify that it is going to work. Then we must set up tests to make sure the
equipment will function correctly or that it qualifies for use. So we must be
able to come up with ideas for what kinds of testing to use, and write
reports that explain exactly how the testing will be done.

If certain equipment does not work, instructions are probably given to
astronauts or cosmonauts to work with the equipment to the best of their
ability. For example, if anything were to break in the case holding the
BAMs, we would not want the astronauts to open it. We would not want
any of the particulates within the case to fly out.

Particulates are any small bits of debris, which can include dirt, metal
or plastic flakes, and in the case of the beetles, feces. Containment
of both odor (generally with filters) and particulates (with filters or
screens) is a big concern in our hardware design. We on Earth live in
a gravity environment.  The type of particulates I'm talking about fall
to the ground, but the astronauts are in a microgravity environment. Any
loose particulates can float around the cabins and possibly be inhaled
by the crew. Particulates could also irritate or injure a crew member's eyes.

The worst thing would be if the experiment is life threatening. With
everything that we do, we try to make sure that the experiment is as safe as
possible. The second worst thing that could happen is if equipment still
does not work. In that kind of a situation there is not much more that the
astronauts can do, but the experiment fails.

September 3, 1995
Moscow. I still can't believe I am here. Some first impressions: It looks
like home in terms of the trees and flowers. As we landed, the first tree I
saw was a white birch. The flower gardens are brilliantly planted- with
flowers I know -marigolds and dahlias.

Yesterday at the Armory in the Kremlin I saw massive sleighs and
carriages of the Czars. One was painted a la Marie Antoinette with
flowers- purple morning glories, roses, pansies and ones with tiny
familiar red trumpet flowers. Some of the later carriages (1700?) were
very European looking, opulent in the Cinderella-gilt style, beautiful with
beveled glass windows. If I were a lowly serf and I saw that carriage go
by, it would be hard to mask resentment, and not let a stone sail merrily
through the window.

We are getting around the city quite well on the Metro (a subway train)
and are doing lots of walking. The Metro is clean, no graffiti, all the glass
globes on the lighting fixtures are intact. Some stations have tiled
mosaics. Maybe the police are undercover, but no vandalism is evident. I
feel safe when I am out...but have not been out alone. I want Russian
food, so far I have been overruled and at dinner for the first meal we had
a burger and fries. Last night we had Mexican food---a cheese burrito.
Breakfast at our hotel is included- meat, cheeses, eggs to order, fruit,
tomatoes and cucumbers. We are drinking bottled water and avoiding
veggies that are not peelable. I think I will have tomato today and slowly
inoculate my system with some Russian microbes!!

Steve Piert, our veteran, is thankfully a whiz at the Metro. We went to
Red Square yesterday. We set out early and arrived before the crowds...
and it was crowded yesterday, maybe in celebration of City Day. At first
the square was cordoned off, which was initially disappointing. But after
a minute or two, it was nice to see the Square without the people
hustle-bustle...the buildings really stand out then.

>From our first position you could see the Armory, red buildings and
Lenin's tomb...but not St. Basil's Cathedral. We walked through
Alexandra's gardens to the tomb of the unknown soldier, which is a
solemn monument....low profile with an eternal flame. Between Steve
and the Fodor's guidebook we did quite well figuring out what we were
looking at. Next stop was the Armory Museum. I was prepared for its
wonderfulness because of the St. Petersburg, Florida exhibit I visited last
summer. That show was like the tip of the iceberg treasure trove when
compared to the Kremlin exhibit. We were told that we were lucky to see
the entire collection of 9 Faberge Eggs, as they are frequently loaned to
other museums for exhibit. The eggs were intensely beautiful-delicate and
exquisite in detail. Saw the Trans-Sibera egg, 2 eggs with exact copies of
favorite royal yachts. One Yacht was a masted sailing ship. One ship was
made of gold and the other of silver.

Getting tired of writing, but so much to remember. I still can't believe
I'm here. It seems very European here. A Muscovite that I met on the
ferry boat, who spoke English with a perfect British accent, said that
Moscow is like a little Europe now. So may Westerners are here to take
advantage of the onset of Capitalism--i.e. make some bucks. Yet on the
street, by dress appearance, we stick out like sore thumbs. Few others
are in sneakers and shorts. It's hot here and dusty and I dread the thought
of panty hose for tomorrow's meetings.

I heard some English being spoken, but all the signs are in Russian.
Daunting! Also passed the Bolshoi Theater, the Stature of Karl Marx in
the Revolution Plaza, the White House which was stormed a few years
ago, St. Basil's and many other cathedrals. St. Basil's is GREAT! The
epitome of Red Square. We didn't tour the interior, it was too neat being
outside in the Square and we heard that inside was very dark.

All day yesterday, especially being in the Square I had that "pinch me"
feeling, of how can I really be here?! We saw a few tanks on the city
streets, many men in uniforms, but it all seems low-key. Hard to believe
the fall of communism was only about 5 years ago.

Please visit our "continuous construction" site at