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Articles 211 - 240 of 7340

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The First Snap Surface Brightness Fluctuation Distances, Mikaela Cowles, Joseph B. Jensen, Brent Tully, John P. Blakeslee, Ehsan Kourkchi May 2023

The First Snap Surface Brightness Fluctuation Distances, Mikaela Cowles, Joseph B. Jensen, Brent Tully, John P. Blakeslee, Ehsan Kourkchi

Utah Space Grant Consortium

We have successfully acquired F110W (J-band) images of 68 massive elliptical galaxies inclusters and groups out to 80 Mpc by taking advantage of the efficient Hubble Space Telescope SNAP observing mode. We used the Surface Brightness Fluctuation (SBF) technique to measure distances to 44 of the galaxies so far with a typical uncertainty of ~5% indistance by implementing a new Python-based pipeline to simplify and automate the SBF analysis procedure. This new SNAP sample doubles the total number of IRSBF distances to galaxies beyond 50 Mpc. The new distances will allow for more accurate determination ofthe mass distribution in the …

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An Automated Stepper Motor-Driven System For Angular Sampling Of High Scattering Angles, Tyler Daynes, Jair Gonzalez, Jeremy Tait, Josh Jumper, Vern Hart May 2023

An Automated Stepper Motor-Driven System For Angular Sampling Of High Scattering Angles, Tyler Daynes, Jair Gonzalez, Jeremy Tait, Josh Jumper, Vern Hart

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Survival rates for most cancers have increased steadily over the past few decades as new technologies have led to better treatment outcomes. However, this process often relies heavily on the detection of cancer in its earliest stages, before symptoms occur or a tumor is visible in a CT or MR image. This is particularly true for diseases such as pancreatic cancer that exhibit almost nosymptoms until very late stages and have extremely low survival rates as a result. Even somecommonly treatable diseases, such as breast cancer, become far more problematic in later stages.As such, any efforts to improve cancer treatment …

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Modelling Filter Response Of Galactic Emission Line Spectra, Jessica Johnson, Christian Draper May 2023

Modelling Filter Response Of Galactic Emission Line Spectra, Jessica Johnson, Christian Draper

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The overall goal of our research is to begin to make a map of the universe in order to find evidence for the cold dark matter theory. Dark matter, which is 85% of all matter, does not interact with light, making it invisible to telescopes. However, we know it exists due to its gravitational effects on visible matter, which can be hard to detect.

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Collisional Losses In A Vasimr (Variable Specific-Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket), Benjamin Miera, Philip Matheson May 2023

Collisional Losses In A Vasimr (Variable Specific-Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket), Benjamin Miera, Philip Matheson

Utah Space Grant Consortium

A VASIMR (Variable Specific-Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) engine is an electrically-powered engine that uses plasma as a propellant for accelerating spacecraft in the vacuum of space. The VASIMR engine is designed to provide higher specific impulse and greater thrust efficiency compared to traditional chemical rockets. The engine works by ionizing a gas, such as argon or hydrogen, and heating it to extremely high temperatures to create a plasma. This plasma is then accelerated and ejected out of the engine at high speeds, producing thrust. VASIMR is seen as a promising technology for future deep space missions due to its potential to …

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Creating A System For Automated Imaging Of Atmospheric Gravity Waves, James Morley, Kim Nielsen May 2023

Creating A System For Automated Imaging Of Atmospheric Gravity Waves, James Morley, Kim Nielsen

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Atmospheric gravity waves are disturbances in the atmosphere and near-space environments caused by displacement of air in a stable environment. These waves transport energy away from the source of the disturbance and can transfer large amounts of energy between atmospheric regions through wave dissipation. One of the regions of most energy transfer is the mesopause region, in the transition between the Earth's atmosphere and the near-space environment. This is a region that is difficult to observe, but the presence of certain atoms and molecules allows for remote sensing of faint emissions called airglow. As the waves pass through the airglow, …

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Atmospheric Modeling Of Brown Dwarfs, Brayden Roberts, Joshua Lothringer May 2023

Atmospheric Modeling Of Brown Dwarfs, Brayden Roberts, Joshua Lothringer

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Brown dwarfs are celestial bodies outside the solar system that are more massive than planets, but less massive than stars. Since they are less massive than stars, they do not fuse hydrogen in their core, but rather cool slowly over time. However, brown dwarfs still emit light. We can measure this light by taking its spectra. From this spectra, we can learn many characteristics and properties of brown dwarfs, such as their temperature, chemical composition, and much more. Brown dwarfs can be categorized by their spectra into M,L,T and Y spectral types.

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Characterization, Comparison And Confirmation: Atmospheric Composition Of Wasp-39b With Jwst, Brian Seamons, Joshua Lothringer May 2023

Characterization, Comparison And Confirmation: Atmospheric Composition Of Wasp-39b With Jwst, Brian Seamons, Joshua Lothringer

Utah Space Grant Consortium

In late 2022, astronomers from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team (ERS) observed WASP-39b, an ultra hot (1200 K) planet with a Jupiter-like radius and Saturn-like mass using the JWST Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec), which provides broad-wavelength observations between (0.5 and 5.5 μm). Zafar Rustamkulov et al. 2023 revealed that they had not only confirmed previous characterizations of WASP-39b’s atmosphere by the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, but found strong evidence for multiple chemicals, such as Na, H2O, CO2, CO, and surprisingly, SO2 .

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A Generative Adversarial Network For Image Reconstruction, Jeremy Tait, Eliza Ballantyne, Ellie Evans, Vern Hart May 2023

A Generative Adversarial Network For Image Reconstruction, Jeremy Tait, Eliza Ballantyne, Ellie Evans, Vern Hart

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Survival rates for most cancers have increased steadily over the past few decades as new technologies have led to better treatment outcomes. However, this process often relies heavily on the detection of cancer in its earliest stages, before symptoms occur or a tumor is visible in a CT or MR image. This is particularly true for diseases such as pancreatic cancer that exhibit almost no symptoms until very late stages and have extremely low survival rates as a result. Even some commonly treatable diseases, such as breast cancer, become far more problematic in later stages. As such, any efforts to …

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Construction And Characterization Of A Nd:Yvo4 Laser For Pumping A Baga4se7 Nonlinear Optical System, Brantson Wayman, Alexander Gibb, York Young May 2023

Construction And Characterization Of A Nd:Yvo4 Laser For Pumping A Baga4se7 Nonlinear Optical System, Brantson Wayman, Alexander Gibb, York Young

Utah Space Grant Consortium

One way to probe tissue for disease is via long wave infrared spectroscopy. This technique uses wavelength dependent absorption of specific molecules which serve as early indicators of disease onset in human tissue.

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Hollow Hair And How Its Structure Helps Big Game Animals Thermoregulate, Taylor Millett, Wendy Schatzberg, Samuel Tobler May 2023

Hollow Hair And How Its Structure Helps Big Game Animals Thermoregulate, Taylor Millett, Wendy Schatzberg, Samuel Tobler

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The Pronghorn antelope is the animal known to have hollow hair strands among hunters and conservationists, yet no one seems to know what it actually looks like on the inside. In this study we examined what a hollow hair strand looks like under a microscope and how it helps with an animal’s thermoregulation. Thermoregulation is the ability to regulate body temperature within a livable range even when external temperatures fluctuate. We studied animals like Mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk, and Pronghorn antelope, as well as other big game animals, as they exhibit this trait in a unique manner. These animals …

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Open-Source Antenna Pattern Measurement System - Phase Ii, Matthew Finger, Christian Hearn, Ren Fisher, Justin Knighton May 2023

Open-Source Antenna Pattern Measurement System - Phase Ii, Matthew Finger, Christian Hearn, Ren Fisher, Justin Knighton

Utah Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

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Euhalothece: The Story Of A Primary Producer And The Great Salt Lake Benthic Food Chain, Caitlin Christensen, Bonnie K. Baxter May 2023

Euhalothece: The Story Of A Primary Producer And The Great Salt Lake Benthic Food Chain, Caitlin Christensen, Bonnie K. Baxter

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Euhalothece is a genus of cyanobacteria that thrive in hypersaline lacustrine and marine environments, including Great Salt Lake, where it dominates primary production in the benthic zone. This occurs primarily through its role as a major architect of microbialite structures. The ongoing rapid decline of GSL subjects these structures to desiccation and elevated salinity, threatening Euhalothece and the benthic ecosystem at large. The purpose of this research was to first review Euhalothece and its role in the GSL benthic food web, then to isolate Euhalothece from GSL microbial mats in an attempt to characterize this species. Additionally, microbialite mats can …

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Preservation Of Biosignatures In Gypsum As A Model For Mars Sample Return, Paulina Martinez-Koury, Bonnie Baxter May 2023

Preservation Of Biosignatures In Gypsum As A Model For Mars Sample Return, Paulina Martinez-Koury, Bonnie Baxter

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Evaporation of water from brines on the surface of the Earth results in a bed of minerals referred to as an evaporite, such as Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) adjoining Great Salt Lake (GSL), in which both halite (NaCl) and gypsum (CaSO4•2H2O) crystals precipitate. Modern GSL and the surrounding BSF resulted from the evaporation of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. In this Bonneville basin and in similar salt deposits, microbial life has been discovered, entombed in minerals. Evaporites have also been well mapped on Mars by recent space missions, which have provided evidence of mineral composites consistent with ancient salt lake systems …

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Acoustical Measurements Of The Space Launch System Artemis-I Launch, Carson Gardner, Zachary Hendry, Bradley Mclaughlin, Kent L. Gee, Grant Hart, Mark Anderson, Logan Matthews, Carson Cunningham, Levi Moats, Taggart Durrant, Matthew Yancey May 2023

Acoustical Measurements Of The Space Launch System Artemis-I Launch, Carson Gardner, Zachary Hendry, Bradley Mclaughlin, Kent L. Gee, Grant Hart, Mark Anderson, Logan Matthews, Carson Cunningham, Levi Moats, Taggart Durrant, Matthew Yancey

Utah Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

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Byu Rocketry 2023 Irec & Spaceport America Cup, Derrick Walker, Riley Brown, Will Hart, Anya Jeppson, Aidan Rice, Nathan Butler, Bradley Hornfischer, Blake Jensen, Alexander Potter, Joshua Taylor, Dallan Trentman May 2023

Byu Rocketry 2023 Irec & Spaceport America Cup, Derrick Walker, Riley Brown, Will Hart, Anya Jeppson, Aidan Rice, Nathan Butler, Bradley Hornfischer, Blake Jensen, Alexander Potter, Joshua Taylor, Dallan Trentman

Utah Space Grant Consortium

BYU Rocketry will compete in the 2023 IREC competition at the Spaceport America Cup in the 10,000 ft commercial motor category. The 12 ft and 71 lb. rocket, Solitude beckons to BYU Rocketry’s past while honoring some of Utah’s most towering peaks.

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The Gasrats Cubesat: Testing An Optically Transparent, Solar Panel-Integrated Patch Antenna, Carter Page, Shawn Jones, Ben Willard, Bella Nielsen, Tyler Day, Taylor Rowser, Cooper Gowan, C. J. Wayland, Warren Prescott, Jeremy Evans, Lorenzo High, Hunter Nelson, Kade Angell May 2023

The Gasrats Cubesat: Testing An Optically Transparent, Solar Panel-Integrated Patch Antenna, Carter Page, Shawn Jones, Ben Willard, Bella Nielsen, Tyler Day, Taylor Rowser, Cooper Gowan, C. J. Wayland, Warren Prescott, Jeremy Evans, Lorenzo High, Hunter Nelson, Kade Angell

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The Get Away Special Radio and Antenna Transparency Satellite (GASRATS) is an education and technology demonstration mission developed by the Get Away Special (GAS) Student Satellite Team at Utah State University (USU) in collaboration with USU Professor, Dr. Reyhan Baktur.

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Spaceport America Cup 2023: Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition, Zachary Foster, Xavier Kipping, Tyler Gardner, Jorge Hernandez Ramiro, Xander Summers, Jonathon Thomsen, Sam Murdock May 2023

Spaceport America Cup 2023: Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition, Zachary Foster, Xavier Kipping, Tyler Gardner, Jorge Hernandez Ramiro, Xander Summers, Jonathon Thomsen, Sam Murdock

Utah Space Grant Consortium

USU entered this year’s Spaceport America Cup with a team of Seven Mechanical Engineering Seniors supported by a team from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department to design and build a payload. The competition is to design and build a rocket capable of launching an 8.8 lb payload to an altitude of 10,000 ft. The competition will take place in White Sands, New Mexico on June 19th - 24th.

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The Archimedes Drum: Innovative Mining For Nasa Lunabotics, Chandler Millar, Andrew Tolton, Daniel Robinson, Najman Husaini, Creed Mccord, Hunter Strathman, Landen Hughes, Bradley Lund, Nathan Bruns, Rylan Metcalf, Jeremy Clark, Minh Le, Daniel Pruschki, Luke Phillips, Joseph Gilsoul, Simon Padgen, Tomas Hammond May 2023

The Archimedes Drum: Innovative Mining For Nasa Lunabotics, Chandler Millar, Andrew Tolton, Daniel Robinson, Najman Husaini, Creed Mccord, Hunter Strathman, Landen Hughes, Bradley Lund, Nathan Bruns, Rylan Metcalf, Jeremy Clark, Minh Le, Daniel Pruschki, Luke Phillips, Joseph Gilsoul, Simon Padgen, Tomas Hammond

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The annual NASA Robotic Mining Challenge: Lunabotics tasks teams with building robots capable of traversing and mining in a simulated Lunar terrain. The competition goal is to utilize automation and sensing alongside mechanical systems to harvest icy regolith (simulated with gravel) from beneath the satellite’s surface. USR’s competition arena can be seen in Figure 2.

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Nasa Big Idea Project: Production Of Steel From Lunar Regolith Through Carbonyl Iron Refining (Cir), Collin T. Andersen, John F. Otero, Jordan R. Contreras, Jarom Chamberlin, Hong Y. Sohn May 2023

Nasa Big Idea Project: Production Of Steel From Lunar Regolith Through Carbonyl Iron Refining (Cir), Collin T. Andersen, John F. Otero, Jordan R. Contreras, Jarom Chamberlin, Hong Y. Sohn

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Transporting equipment to the moon is extremely cost prohibitive and competition is fierce over a limited cargo volume. However, the moon’s surface is relatively rich in metals. Carbonyl Iron Refining (CIR) is a promising avenue to extract iron from reduced lunar regolith and refine it into a high purity powder product. The process is two-stage. First, iron oxide in lunar regolith is reduced with hydrogen or carbon monoxide. Second, the disparate iron particles are refined via the formation and subsequent decomposition of Fe(CO)5(g). Stand out characteristics of the concept are its native synergy with oxygen production and additive manufacturing and …

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Muon Shielding: Effects Of Moon Shielding By Lead, Polyethylene, And Water, Teagan Della Cerra May 2023

Muon Shielding: Effects Of Moon Shielding By Lead, Polyethylene, And Water, Teagan Della Cerra

Utah Space Grant Consortium

My goal was to explore how muon counts are affected under shielding of different materials at various thicknesses. The materials used were lead, polyethylene, and water. These trials consisted of using two muon detectors in coincidence mode and running a trial for roughly 15 minuets (900s ± 5s), and were all taken in the bottom floor of Tracy Hall located in Ogden, UT.

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Cosmic Watch Muon Detector Case Builds And Radiation Event Counts, Mary Ghita May 2023

Cosmic Watch Muon Detector Case Builds And Radiation Event Counts, Mary Ghita

Utah Space Grant Consortium

In this experiment, as a student in an advanced lab at Weber State University an opportunity was given to verify whether making cases of different materials in a 3D printer will have the same amount of muon counts as an Aluminum case. The material used in the 3D printer consists of a non-glow in the dark material and a glow in the dark material. These cases were made in a Lego brick shape and are a little bigger than a typical Aluminum muon detector case. The experiment is also taken with one muon detector board for each separate event experiment. …

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Cosmic Ray Muons & True Random Numbers, Ryan Gardner May 2023

Cosmic Ray Muons & True Random Numbers, Ryan Gardner

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The Earth is under a constant barrage of high-energy protons that smash into upper-atmospheric nuclei, such as oxygen and nitrogen, triggering a chain reaction of subatomic particles that rain down onto the planet’s surface. This process is entirely random with a high degree of entropy – a perfect system for harvesting true random numbers.

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Measuring Solar Activity With Cosmicwatch Muon Detectors, Jade Marchant May 2023

Measuring Solar Activity With Cosmicwatch Muon Detectors, Jade Marchant

Utah Space Grant Consortium

To expand upon the knowledge gained from the construction of the CosmicWatch detectors, we conducted an experiment that had specific aims to measure the correlation between muon detection and current solar activity. This was done by taking daily muon count measurements and comparing it to daily sunspot and solar flare activity data retrieved from various space weather agencies. This experiment allowed us to test the capabilities of the detectors while also exploring fascinating astrophysical phenomena. Our results indicate that muon detection through the CosmicWatch detectors does not correlate with changes in daily solar activity.

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Blotting Out The Sky: The Affects Of Various Shielding Configurations On The Rate Of Muon Interactions, Masen Pitts May 2023

Blotting Out The Sky: The Affects Of Various Shielding Configurations On The Rate Of Muon Interactions, Masen Pitts

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Detector shielding techniques are widely used in the field of particle physics, where in many cases properly detecting the objects of interest is solely dependent on how well one can reduce the detector's noise floor, or the minimum signal intensity at which detection events can be distinguished from background noise.

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Muons, Moody Weather, & Many Lines Of Code, Nathan Tanner, Jade Marchant, Matt Wilkinson May 2023

Muons, Moody Weather, & Many Lines Of Code, Nathan Tanner, Jade Marchant, Matt Wilkinson

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Muons are heavy, fundamental subatomic particles that are created in the Earth’s atmosphere by cosmic rays. Muons decay quickly after being formed, but because they are moving at nearly the speed of light they travel far before doing so, passing through almost everything in their path. This allows them to be detected on the ground. The purpose of this experiment is to see if there is any relation between weather and measured muon rates. Literature suggests that the density of the atmosphere has the most significant effect on muon rates, the connection being a direct negative correlation. To do this …

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Are They Really Muons: Determining The Viability Of Cosmicwatch Muon Detectors In ‘Coincidence Mode’, Matt Wilkinson May 2023

Are They Really Muons: Determining The Viability Of Cosmicwatch Muon Detectors In ‘Coincidence Mode’, Matt Wilkinson

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Our project went forward in two stages, the first stage being the building and testing of the detectors and the second being the primary experiment to test the detectors in their coincidence modes. Experiences with the build phase, particularly with the setting of thresholds for the detectors, lead to the interest in determining the statistical significance of these values.

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Using Projected Sound To Create Specified Objects, Isaac Bentley, Noel Philips, Austin Everingham May 2023

Using Projected Sound To Create Specified Objects, Isaac Bentley, Noel Philips, Austin Everingham

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Light projection using sound creates unique circular shapes that are dictated by the frequency used. We attempt to characterize these relationships in order to determine a correlation between the individual frequency and the combination of multiple frequencies to predict and dictate the shape and rotation of the image presented. We are doing this through experimentation and research to optimize our results. We hope to develop this to aid in the creation of holograms and sound interaction analysis.

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The Benefits Of Bifidobacterium Longum And Its Viability In Different Environments, Lane Law, Aikhin Cheng May 2023

The Benefits Of Bifidobacterium Longum And Its Viability In Different Environments, Lane Law, Aikhin Cheng

Utah Space Grant Consortium

When we talk about bacteria, people usually think of it as a bad thing to ever exist in the human body. However, there are some bacteria such as Bifidobacterium that are not only not a bad thing, but they can even promote a healthier life. Studies have shown that probiotics have various health benefits. Through their biological mechanisms in the body, probiotics have been shown to adjust gut functionality, enhance immunity, lower cholesterol, and encourage metabolic balance. Additionally, they can produce short-chain fatty acids, vitamins, enzymes, organic acids, and peptides that fight off microbes. Bacteria species that are considered probiotics …

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Supplementation Of Martian Regolith Media For Sustained Cyanobacterial Growth, Alix Elliston May 2023

Supplementation Of Martian Regolith Media For Sustained Cyanobacterial Growth, Alix Elliston

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Cyanobacteria have been referred to as the architects of Earth’s atmosphere and are widely credited with being the planet’s first oxygenators. While it is speculated that cyanobacteria could similarly be utilized to oxygenate the atmosphere of Mars, one constraint is resource scarcity on the planet. Studies have shown that certain cyanobacteria can survive at least short term in media comprised of Martian regolith; however, their ability to thrive long term in such nutrient-deprived conditions is questionable. This study aims to investigate whether a cyanobacterial culture grown in a nutrient-deprived medium can be supplemented with urine and certain vitamin-producing bacteria to …

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Reducing Carbon Dioxide Levels On Mars Using Cyanobacteria, Lonnie Ernst May 2023

Reducing Carbon Dioxide Levels On Mars Using Cyanobacteria, Lonnie Ernst

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Cyanobacteria are the largest contributor to oxygen production on earth and play a substantial role in making earth a viable place to live. With increasing interest in the colonization of Mars, this project aims to use cyanobacteria to terraform the atmosphere of Mars. Carbon dioxide constitutes 98% of the Martian atmosphere making it uninhabitable for most forms of life. An emulation of the Martian atmosphere will be created using an anaerobic chamber, putting the pressure under vacuum, and supplementing the air with carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas. Cyanobacteria will be grown in a photobioreactor under these conditions and the oxygen …

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