DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah – The outside turbulence experience by an airliner mid-flight can be unpredictable and jarring, but the researchers at the Biological Test Division (BTD) at Dugway Proving Ground, are instead focusing their attention on the airflow inside the fuselage to determine how airborne particles move about this enclosed environment.
Sometimes it is impossible to duplicate all the variables of real-world situations in the controlled environment of a laboratory. To better understand this variability, scientists in the BTD are adding the realism of an airliner fuselage to their research on Project 24 (P24). The results of the test will give Soldiers real-time warnings about hazardous chemical and biological agents in the air around them.
The researchers working on P24 are disseminating Male-Specific Bacteriophage (MS2), a simulant meant to represent the COVID-19 virus, in a test fixture constructed using a section of a jet airliner passenger cabin. The team simulates the breathing of a sick passenger on the airplane, then collecting samples and determining what level of concentration is required to detect the MS2. Comparing this data with the results from smaller-scale tests involving the Miniature Aerosol Exposure Chamber (MAEC) will give the team a look at how the simulant reacts to real-world settings.
The next step will require the scientists to go back to the lab where they will put the MAEC into an airtight glovebox and disseminate the actual COVID-19 virus. Similar to the previous steps, the team will then determine what level of concentration is needed to detect the virus. That data will then be compared to the data coming from the MAEC when MS2 was used. Then, using the data from the fuselage the scientists can analyze how the virus will react in these real-world conditions.
While P24 will allow for better detection of airborne agents for Soldiers in the field, it will also help dictate which precautions should be taken when dealing with high-risk locations such as airplanes. The team also says the data could continue to be upscaled to even larger or more open locations in the future, making soldiers and civilians safer for many years to come.
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