A Utah artificial organ is "literally the heart of the hearts in space experiment" that will fly into orbit aboard space shuttle Discovery next week, according to researcher George Pantalos, who spoke during a NASA news conference Monday.
Pantalos, of the U.'s Artificial Heart Research Laboratory, 803 N. 300 West, was at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., for the session. The news conference was broadcast by NASA Select TV. The satellite program was picked up and played at Hansen Planetarium, 15 S. State, to an audience that included keyed-up members of Pantalos' family and a graduate student who also works on the project.Once in space, a Utah 100 artificial heart will pump fake blood through a mockup of the human circulatory system.
"Parts of this experiment were put together on the kitchen table and the work-bench in the garage, various hours of the day and night," said Pantalos' wife, Diana, after the press conference. Much of the work involved creativity, she added. "There isn't a book on it."
The experiment, to study the functioning of the circulatory system in near-zero gravity, is stowed aboard Discovery's cargo bay in one of two "Get-Away Special" canisters. Launch of the STS-85 mission is set for Aug. 7, with landing set for around 11 days later.
The main payloads carried by Discovery will be devices to examine ultraviolet emissions from Earth's atmosphere, the region around Jupiter and comet Hale-Bopp.
The Utah experiment and one from a high school in the East are in "GAS" canisters aboard the shuttle. The Utahns worked with Thomas E. Bennett and his colleagues from Bellarmine College, Louisville, Ky.
During the broadcast, Pantalos said the U.'s experiment could help develop improved artificial hearts and might help scientists understand changes that happen to human hearts in weightlessness. Astronauts' hearts shrink after a few days in orbit, and scientists are not sure why. Physiological adjustments, including hormonal changes and reactions of the nerve system, may be among factors behind the changes.
The artificial heart will help sort out which causes are responsible for which effects, Pantalos said. Hormones and nerves are not part of the makeup of "Art Heart," the experiment, and any changes in circulation performance may be more directly tied to weightlessness.
Pantalos said the device will pump a combination that is 40 percent glycerin and the rest water, to mimic the consistency of human blood. If needed, a heating element in the experiment will bring the equipment up to the right temperature before it begins its work.
After a minute of work, Art Heart will undergo "a very controlled cardiac arrest," Pantalos said. "We'll turn the heart off." Then it will be switched on again, in cycles that examine its action at different "blood" pressures.
Kevin Gillars, a graduate student who works with Pantalos and who watched the press conference from the planetarium, said most of the batteries carried by the experiment are used to heat it. Although insulated, the device will be in the cargo hold, which will be open to space part of the time.
"We're all excited," Gillars said. He is one of the experts who traveled from Utah to Cape Kennedy, Fla., in late May to help install the experiment.
The can is about 22 inches wide and three feet high. Without the canister, the experiment weighs about 210 pounds, close to the maximum allowed, he said. Much of the weight is the aluminum structure that holds the device secure.
"It's been very exciting to see it all come together," said Diana Pantalos. Michael, 11, one of the three Pantalos children who watched the news conference, said, "I think it was pretty neat this experiment got this far, that we get a chance to do it."