NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the steering group responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
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Copyright © 1998 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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STEERING GROUP FOR THE WORKSHOP ON BIOLOGY-BASED TECHNOLOGY FOR ENHANCED SPACE EXPLORATION
Gerard W. Elverum,
TRW Space and Technology Group (retired),
Chair
James P. Bagian,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Rita R. Colwell,
University of Maryland
Bruce Dunn,
University of California at Los Angeles
Donald R. Humphrey,
Emory University School of Medicine
Takeo Kanade,
Carnegie Mellon University
Rodolfo R. Llinas,
New York University Medical Center
Samuel I. Stupp,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Staff
Joseph L. Zelibor, Jr., Study Director
Amber Whipkey, Project Assistant
Laura Ost, Consultant
SPACE STUDIES BOARD
Claude R. Canizares,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Chair
Mark R. Abbott,
Oregon State University
Daniel N. Baker,
University of Colorado
Lawrence Bogorad,
Harvard University
Donald E. Brownlee,
University of Washington
Gerard W. Elverum, Jr.,
TRW Space and Technology Group
Anthony W. England,
University of Michigan
Marilyn L. Fogel,
Carnegie Institute of Washington
Ronald Greeley,
Arizona State University
Bill Green, Former Member,
U.S. House of Representatives
Andrew H. Knoll,
Harvard University
Roberta Balstad Miller,
CIESIN
Berrien Moore III,
University of New Hampshire
Mary Jane Osborn,
University of Connecticut Health Center
Simon Ostrach,
Case Western Reserve University
Morton B. Panish,
AT&T Bell Laboratories (Retired)
Carlé M. Pieters,
Brown University
Thomas A. Prince,
California Institute of Technology
Pedro L. Rustan, Jr.,
U.S. Air Force (Retired)
John A. Simpson,
Enrico Fermi Institute
George L. Siscoe,
Boston University
Edward M. Stolper,
California Institute of Technology
Raymond Viskanta,
Purdue University
Robert E. Williams,
Space Telescope Science Institute
Marc S. Allen, Director (through December 12, 1997)
Joseph K. Alexander, Director (as of February 17, 1998)
COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND APPLICATIONS
Robert J. Hermann,
United Technologies Corporation,
Co-chair
W. Carl Lineberger,
University of Colorado,
Co-chair
Peter M. Banks,
ERIM International, Inc.
William Browder,
Princeton University
Lawrence D. Brown,
University of Pennsylvania
Ronald G. Douglas,
Texas A&M University
John E. Estes,
University of California at Santa Barbara
Martha P. Haynes,
Cornell University
L. Louis Hegedus,
Elf Atochem North America, Inc.
John E. Hopcroft,
Cornell University
Carol M. Jantzen,
Westinghouse Savannah River Company
Paul G. Kaminski,
Technovation, Inc.
Kenneth H. Keller,
University of Minnesota
Kenneth I. Kellermann,
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Margaret G. Kivelson,
University of California at Los Angeles
Daniel Kleppner,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John Kreick,
Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company
Marsha I. Lester,
University of Pennsylvania
Nicholas P. Samios,
Brookhaven National
Chang-Lin Tien,
University of California at Berkeley
Norman Metzger, Executive Director
Foreword
It is inevitable that humans will someday venture beyond low Earth orbit to renew our exploration of the solar system. Whether this occurs sooner or later depends largely on our ability to achieve the necessary technical capability at an affordable cost, something quite debatable at present.
The workshop reported on here was effectively a brainstorming session to consider somewhat unconventional technologies based on biology or biological systems. Although most of the technologies required to enable exploration are likely to be extensions of more traditional systems and devices, biology-based technologies have some very attractive features that might be of great benefit for human well-being and enhanced performance during longduration spaceflight.
It is unlikely that all or even most of the possibilities suggested here will actually grow into viable technologies useful to future astronauts. But they do represent a first attempt at defining fruitful avenues for further consideration, research, and evaluation. And one hopes that they will serve to stimulate the creative imaginations of other researchers to conceive additional possibilities.
Claude R. Canizares
Chair, Space Studies Board
Preface
The application of biological concepts and principles to the development of technologies for space exploration is an exciting idea that has sparked the interest of many people, including top-level NASA officials. To help guide its activities in this area, NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications (OLMSA) requested that the Space Studies Board organize an informal workshop to identify areas in biology-based technology research that appear to hold special promise for carrying biological science into technology directly applicable to space exploration. The product of this workshop was to be a letter report listing general topics and opportunities deserving further discussion and analysis, which might in turn be the subjects of future workshops.
At a workshop planning meeting held in Washington, D.C., on June 10, 1997, the Steering Group for the Workshop on Biology-based Technology for Enhanced Space Exploration (Appendix A) and OLMSA representatives determined that the workshop should strive not only to identify promising biology-based research areas as topics for follow-on focused workshops, but also to develop more specific findings that would support NASA's research planning more directly. As a result, the scope of the workshop was expanded to include prioritizing the technology requirements—identified by NASA—in three enabling technology areas (habitat systems, human systems, and advanced operations and teleoperations); identifying biology-based principles or concepts that could be applied to meet or enhance the technology requirements; describing the state of understanding of those principles today; and identifying gaps in research and technology work needed to enable a concept design or demonstration. During the workshop, however, it became clear to the participants that fully addressing all of the elements in the expanded scope of work would require a more systematic and detailed understanding of mission requirements than could be obtained in an initial workshop. Accordingly, this report outlines, in Chapter 4, possible steps in a systems engineering approach to defining mission needs as a prelude to exploring how to meet those needs in the future.
The workshop steering group faced two primary challenges: delimiting the task and understanding NASA's technology requirements. NASA representatives had made it clear that the focus should be on missions involving actual human presence at the exploration site. However, systems designed to carry out such missions are enormously complicated. The technologies required, and the mix of disciplines that inform their development, cover a broad
range. It is likely that many of the essential major subsystems have components in which biological concepts or principles could be applied. The challenge was thus to contain the extent of inquiry sufficiently to produce usable results, while also ensuring that essential needs and the most promising approaches were addressed. Accordingly, the workshop steering group identified two themes to guide workshop discussions: enhancing human well-being, and enhancing human presence and function.
At the workshop planning meeting, there was considerable discussion regarding the need for workshop participants to have a fairly definitive understanding of NASA's system and system element requirements for envisioned human exploration missions, along with information about how conventional systems fall short of enabling long-duration missions to Mars and other planets. A substantial amount of information was provided by NASA regarding mission needs, but much of it was more general than workshop planners had hoped. Given the limited amount of detail available on NASA needs, the discussions of workshop participants were based on first principles.
The workshop was held on October 21-22, 1997, at the Center for Advanced Space Studies in Houston, Texas (Appendix B includes the agenda and list of the participants). The participants included specialists in a variety of fields, including aquaculture, biomedical engineering, bioprocess engineering, botany, chemical engineering, environmental and industrial microbiology, kinesiology, materials science, mechanical engineering and applied mechanics, molecular biology, neurology, pharmacology and physiology, plant pathology, pomology, public health, robotics, sensor technology, and space medicine. The workshop began with a plenary session at which a number of NASA's mission and technology managers provided general summaries of their current visions of scenarios and technology needs for near-term human exploration missions. The two subsequent discussion sessions focused on identifying areas in biology-based research with a potential for (1) enhancing human well-being in space exploration and (2) enhancing human presence and function in space exploration. These two sessions were organized to emphasize, respectively (1) life support, habitat systems, and human health; and (2) perception, manipulation and locomotion, cognition, and systems and computation.
Following the workshop, participants attempted to ground the discussions in the literature and to assess the ideas presented to the degree possible, based on current understanding of the principles involved and available NASA design criteria and ongoing research. However, several ideas introduced during the workshop were not included in this workshop report because they could not be justified scientifically. The workshop organizers envisioned that NASA would pursue follow-on activities, such as workshops or research, that would involve necessary technical evaluation, including weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the biology-based technologies, comparing their performance with that of conventional systems, and determining where the innovative technologies might best be applied (e.g., on a spacecraft or on the planetary surface). The results of this initial workshop suggest that there is good reason for excitement. This report identifies a number of research topics and opportunities deserving of further attention by NASA.
A number of individuals helped make the workshop a success. In particular, the Space Studies Board wishes to thank Arnauld Nicogossian, associate administrator, Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications, NASA Headquarters, for requesting the workshop
and for his presentation at the steering group's planning meeting. Special thanks are due to Diana Hoyt, Darrell Jan, and Bette Siegel, NASA Headquarters, for serving as the project 's points of contact at NASA, and to Walter Hanby, Johnson Space Center, for helping to organize the NASA plenary speakers for the workshop. The steering group thanks John Anderson, Minoo Dastoor, Steve Davison, Guy Fogleman, Diana Hoyt, Darrell Jan, John Mankins, and Frank Sulzman, NASA Headquarters, and Douglas Cooke, Johnson Space Center, for their presentations at the steering group's planning meeting. The steering group also thanks Douglas Cooke, Bret Drake, Jon Erickson, Donald Henninger, Kriss Kennedy, James Maida, Robert Savely, and Charles Sawin, Johnson Space Center, for their technical presentations during the plenary session at the workshop. Finally, the steering group expresses its appreciation to the staff of Center for Advanced Space Studies, Houston, Texas, in particular, Gail Pachetti and Teri Jones, for their administrative assistance during the workshop. The assistance of Lisa May, Jackson-May Associates, and Guy Orgambide, SciLink Inc., is gratefully acknowledged.
Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council's (NRC's) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the authors and the NRC in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The content of the review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report:
Michael Albin, Perkin-Elmer Corporation,
John Baross, University of Washington,
Aaron Cohen, Texas A&M University,
John E. Estes, University of California, Santa Barbara,
Johann Peter Gogarten, University of Connecticut,
Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Gerald E. Loeb, Queen's University, and
John W. Townsend, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (retired).
Although the individuals listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, responsibility for the final content of this report rests solely with the authoring steering group and the NRC.