Biomimetic lizard robot for adapting to Martian surface terrain.

The exploration of the planet Mars still is a top priority in planetary science. The Mars surface is extensively covered with soil-like material. Current wheeled rovers on Mars have been occasionally experiencing immobilization instances in unexpectedly weak terrains. The development of Mars rovers adaptable to these terrains is instrumental in improving exploration efficiency. Inspired by locomotion of the desert lizard, this paper illustrates a biomimetic quadruped robot with structures of flexible active spine and toes. By accounting for spine lateral flexion and its coordination with four leg movements, three gaits of tripod, trot and turning are designed. The motions corresponding to the three gaits are conceptually and numerically analyzed. On the granular terrains analog to Martian surface, the gasping forces by the active toes are estimated. Then traversing tests for the robot to move on Martian soil surface analog with the three gaits were investigated. Moreover, the traversing characteristics for Martian rocky and slope surface analog are analyzed. Results show that the robot can traverse Martian soil surface analog with maximum forward speed 28.13 m s-1turning speed 1.94° s-1and obstacle height 74.85 mm. The maximum angle for climbing Martian soil slope analog is 28°, corresponding slippery rate 76.8%. It is predicted that this robot can adapt to Martian granular rough terrain with gentle slopes.

Pulmonary recovery directly after COVID-19 and in Long-COVID.

Permanent impairment in patients after SARS-CoV-2 infection is frequent, but neither pathophysiology nor mechanisms of the so-called Post-COVID-Syndrome (Long-COVID) are well understood. We present data on pulmonary impairment, pulmonary recovery and outcome comparing patients admitted to a specific COVID-19 rehabilitation program directly after COVID-19 infection with patients long after COVID-19 infection. Diagnostic work up included echocardiography, cardiopulmonary exercise testing and pleural sonography. The rehabilitation program included multimodal respiratory therapy, endurance and resistance muscular training, psychological assistance, and educational measures. Patients in both groups showed similar pulmonary problems. Diaphragm dysfunction was common in both groups. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing showed dysfunctional breathing in most patients of both groups. The specific rehabilitation program applied yielded marked improvements with satisfying pulmonary recovery in both groups. Return to work was possible or expected in most patients. In conclusion, directly after COVID-19 infection as well as in long Covid 4-20 months after COVID-19 dysfunctional breathing patterns in cardiopulmonary exercise testing and diaphragm dysfunction on ultrasound are common and need diagnostic awareness and therapy measures. Specialized rehabilitation programs directly after COVID-19 as well as for Long-COVID patients are effective therapeutic options.

Development of a Lizard-Inspired Robot for Mars Surface Exploration.

Exploring Mars is beneficial to increasing our knowledge, understanding the possibility of ancient microbial life there, and discovering new resources beyond the Earth to prepare for future human missions to Mars. To assist ambitious uncrewed missions to Mars, specific types of planetary rovers have been developed for performing tasks on Mars' surface. Due to the fact that the surface is composed of granular soils and rocks of various sizes, contemporary rovers can have difficulties in moving on soft soils and climbing over rocks. To overcome such difficulties, this research develops a quadruped creeping robot inspired by the locomotion characteristics of the desert lizard. This biomimetic robot features a flexible spine, which allows swinging movements during locomotion. The leg structure utilizes a four-linkage mechanism, which ensures a steady lifting motion. The foot consists of an active ankle and a round pad with four flexible toes that are effective in grasping soils and rocks. To determine robot motions, kinematic models relating to foot, leg, and spine are established. Moreover, the coordinated motions between the trunk spine and leg are numerically verified. In addition, the mobility on granular soils and rocky surface are experimentally demonstrated, which can imply that this biomimetic robot is suitable for Mars surface terrains.

VOILA on the LUVMI-X Rover: Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for the Detection of Volatiles at the Lunar South Pole.

The project Lunar Volatiles Mobile Instrumentation-Extended (LUVMI-X) developed an initial system design as well as payload and mobility breadboards for a small, lightweight rover dedicated for in situ exploration of the lunar south pole. One of the proposed payloads is the Volatiles Identification by Laser Analysis instrument (VOILA), which uses laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to analyze the elemental composition of the lunar surface with an emphasis on sampling regolith and the detection of hydrogen for the inference of the presence of water. It is designed to analyze targets in front of the rover at variable focus between 300 mm and 500 mm. The spectrometer covers the wavelength range from 350 nm to 790 nm, which includes the hydrogen line at 656.3 nm as well as spectral lines of most major rock-forming elements. We report here the scientific input that fed into the concept and design of the VOILA instrument configuration for the LUVMI-X rover. Moreover, we present the measurements performed with the breadboard laboratory setup for VOILA at DLR Berlin that focused on verifying the performance of the designed LIBS instrument in particular for the detection and quantification of hydrogen and other major rock forming elements in the context of in situ lunar surface analysis.

Bending Study of Six Biological Models for Design of High Strength and Tough Structures.

High strength and tough structures are beneficial to increasing engineering components service span. Nonetheless, improving structure strength and, simultaneously, toughness is difficult, since these two properties are generally mutually exclusive. Biological organisms exhibit both excellent strength and toughness. Using bionic structures from these biological organisms can be solutions for improving these properties of engineering components. To effectively apply biological models to design biomimetic structures, this paper analyses strengthening and toughening mechanisms of six fundamentally biological models obtained from biological organisms. Numerical models of three-point bending test are established to predict crack propagation behaviors of the six biological models. Furthermore, the strength and toughness of six biomimetic composites are experimentally evaluated. It is identified that the helical model possesses the highest toughness and satisfying strength. This work provides more detailed evidence for engineers to designate bionic models to the design of biomimetic composites with high strength and toughness.

Survivability of immunoassay reagents exposed to the space radiation environment on board the ESA BIOPAN-6 platform as a prelude to performing immunoassays on Mars.

The Life Marker Chip (LMC) instrument is an immunoassay-based sensor that will attempt to detect signatures of life in the subsurface of Mars. The molecular reagents at the core of the LMC have no heritage of interplanetary mission use; therefore, the design of such an instrument must take into account a number of risk factors, including the radiation environment that will be encountered during a mission to Mars. To study the effects of space radiation on immunoassay reagents, primarily antibodies, a space study was performed on the European Space Agency's 2007 BIOPAN-6 low-Earth orbit (LEO) space exposure platform to complement a set of ground-based radiation studies. Two antibodies were used in the study, which were lyophilized and packaged in the intended LMC format and loaded into a custom-made sample holder unit that was mounted on the BIOPAN-6 platform. The BIOPAN mission went into LEO for 12 days, after which all samples were recovered and the antibody binding performance was measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The factors expected to affect antibody performance were the physical conditions of a space mission and the exposure to space conditions, primarily the radiation environment in LEO. Both antibodies survived inactivation by these factors, as concluded from the comparison between the flight samples and a number of shipping and storage controls. This work, in combination with the ground-based radiation tests on representative LMC antibodies, has helped to reduce the risk of using antibodies in a planetary exploration mission context.

Identification of morphological biosignatures in Martian analogue field specimens using in situ planetary instrumentation.

We have investigated how morphological biosignatures (i.e., features related to life) might be identified with an array of viable instruments within the framework of robotic planetary surface operations at Mars. This is the first time such an integrated lab-based study has been conducted that incorporates space-qualified instrumentation designed for combined in situ imaging, analysis, and geotechnics (sampling). Specimens were selected on the basis of feature morphology, scale, and analogy to Mars rocks. Two types of morphological criteria were considered: potential signatures of extinct life (fossilized microbial filaments) and of extant life (crypto-chasmoendolithic microorganisms). The materials originated from a variety of topical martian analogue localities on Earth, including impact craters, high-latitude deserts, and hydrothermal deposits. Our in situ payload included a stereo camera, microscope, Mössbauer spectrometer, and sampling device (all space-qualified units from Beagle 2), and an array of commercial instruments, including a multi-spectral imager, an X-ray spectrometer (calibrated to the Beagle 2 instrument), a micro-Raman spectrometer, and a bespoke (custom-designed) X-ray diffractometer. All experiments were conducted within the engineering constraints of in situ operations to generate realistic data and address the practical challenges of measurement. Our results demonstrate the importance of an integrated approach for this type of work. Each technique made a proportionate contribution to the overall effectiveness of our "pseudopayload" for biogenic assessment of samples yet highlighted a number of limitations of current space instrument technology for in situ astrobiology.

An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils.

The mineralogical and elemental compositions of the martian soil are indicators of chemical and physical weathering processes. Using data from the Mars Exploration Rovers, we show that bright dust deposits on opposite sides of the planet are part of a global unit and not dominated by the composition of local rocks. Dark soil deposits at both sites have similar basaltic mineralogies, and could reflect either a global component or the general similarity in the compositions of the rocks from which they were derived. Increased levels of bromine are consistent with mobilization of soluble salts by thin films of liquid water, but the presence of olivine in analysed soil samples indicates that the extent of aqueous alteration of soils has been limited. Nickel abundances are enhanced at the immediate surface and indicate that the upper few millimetres of soil could contain up to one per cent meteoritic material.

Vanguard--a European robotic astrobiology-focussed Mars sub-surface mission proposal.

We present a new European Mars mission proposal to build on the UK-led Beagle2 Mars mission and continue its astrobiology-focussed investigation of Mars. The small surface element to be delivered to the Martian surface--Vanguard--is designed to be carried by a Mars Express-type spacecraft bus to Mars and adopts a similar entry, descent and landing system as Beagle2. The surface element comprises a triad of robotic devices--a lander, a micro-rover of the Sojourner class for surface mobility, and three ground-penetrating moles mounted onto the rover for sub-surface penetration to 5 m depth. The major onboard instruments on the rover include a Raman spectrometer/imager, a laser plasma spectrometer, an infrared spectrometer--these laser instruments provide the basis for in situ "remote" sensing of the sub-surface Martian environment within a powerful scientific package. The moles carry the instruments' sensor head array to the sub-surface. The moles are thus required to undergo a one-way trip down the boreholes without the need for recovery of moles or samples, eliminating much of the robotic complexity invoked by such operations.

The influence of conformational restriction in the C-terminus of growth hormone secretagogues on their potency.

In order to obtain more potent growth hormone secretagogues, a comparison of ipamorelin and NN703 suggested the addition of a polar group at the C-terminus of NN703. A study was conducted using constrained amines for this purpose. Here, substituted 4-piperidinylamino- and 4-dimethylaminopiperidino-substituents were found to give the most active compounds. A replacement of the 4-dimethylaminopiperidino-substituent with 4-hydroxypiperidino resulted in a series of compounds, which showed in vitro activity with EC(50) values in the low nanomolar range, and favourable kinetic properties, such as 40% oral bioavailability. The most promising compound was also tested in a swine in vivo model, resulting in a growth hormone level with a C(max) of over 40 ng mL(-1).