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Sharing Space Technology via Social Media

Introduction

Space technology has witnessed dramatic developments recently, spurred on by private firms such as SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace. Likewise, the ability to share this exciting technology in interactive 3D  format is now possible!

We are currently converting biological structures (e.g., CryoEM / Xray) for sharing via social media (www.sketchfabforscience).  We are now exploring if this new interactive technology can be used to share space technology developments via social media.

Figure 1.  Annotated Bigelow B330

Methods

Bigelow Aerospace  developes expandable space stations, which could dramatiacally accelerate space exploration and colonialization.  We found wonderul images and 3d models on various websites related to their expandable space module technology (ref).  A full interactive 3D model of the B330 can be found on the Bigelow Aerospace website (ref).  Using a modified 3D model (found on 3D warehouse),  we uploaded to Sketchfab.  During the final step, we added a background image (from Bigelow Aerospace site), annoatations and lighting (see Figure 1).

 [ISS] Timelapse of Bigelow Expandable Activity Module Inflation
 
Figure 2.  [ISS] Timelapse of Bigelow Expandable Activity Module Inflation

As shown above, the interactive technology allows one to take a virtual tour of the Bigelow technology. Likewise, if you have Google Cardboard or other VR headsets (Oculus, Microsoft Hololens), the above technology can be viewed in Virtual Reality.  Once uploaded to Sketchfab, the above model can be directly posted to Twitter or Facebook for interactive viewing.  Likewise, the embed code can be pasted onto websites, such as seen here.

 

Compositing Full Scenes

In order to visual a space colony, we imported all the models into 3DS Max (see Figure 1).  The prototype scene was rendered as shown below (see Fig. 3).

 Figure 3.  Sample Animation of Mars Colony

A full 3D physical model of Bigelow Aerospace technology can be seen below.

 02e_sep2015_model_colony_live

Additional Sketchfab Uploads

Space Physiology Research:

Effects of microgravity on myogenic factor expressions during postnatal development of rat skeletal muscle

 

Manabu InobeIkuko InobeGregory R. AdamsKenneth M. BaldwinShin’Ichi Takeda

Postnatal development of rodent skeletal muscle is well defined (413272933), and this process occurs within 1 mo after birth (4). In other words, this time frame represents a critical window in which the skeletal muscles undergo a rapid muscle mass growth and MHC phenotype differentiation (4). It is apparent that neural and humoral factors regulate MHC transition from embryonic/neonatal to adult isoforms (29). Normal innervation appears to be needed for development of the slow (type I) isoform, whereas formation of fast (type II) isoforms, especially the IIb isoform, is dependent on the level of serum thyroid hormone (29). Thus both factors cooperate to differentiate each skeletal muscle into its respective inherent phenotype.

Acknowledgments

We thank the members of the research support teams from the NASA Ames Research Center, John F. Kennedy Space Center, and National Space Development Agency of Japan. In paticular, we thank Gail Nakamura, Vera Vizir, Hisao Sato, and Masaru Uemura for experimental support.

Ref. 29

2017-11-06 14_07_36-ARTICLES _ Journal of Applied Physiology