Space Science in the Twenty-First Century Imperatives for the Decades 1995 to 2015, Overview (1988) / Chapter Skim
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7. Life Sciences
7. Life Sciences
Pages 60-73
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From page 60... ...
Chemical and fossil evidence show that earth life as we know it today evolved by natural selection from a few simple cells called prokaryotes because they lacked nuclei. The earliest prokaryotes probably already had mechanisms that allowed them to replicate their genetic information, encoded in nucleic acids, and to express this information by translation into various proteins.
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From page 61... ...
As a result, the goals of these fields are now well defined; we can proceed with specific missions and programs confident of valuable results. In contrast to global biology, exobiology, and the other space sciences, the fields of space biology and space medicine are still
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From page 62... ...
The steering group anticipates that manned space flights extending over years will pose severe psychological and physiological problems. The initial concern of space medicine is primarily to identify and characterize those physiological systems that do not adapt well to space Bight or that do not subsequently readapt to one g.
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From page 63... ...
While priorities may change with tune, present observations and extrapolations indicate clear research goals of both basic and cImical significance. Realization of these goals demands the d~ ployment of a dedicated life sciences laboratory equipped with a vivarium and a centrifuge of at least an Afoot radius on a space station.
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From page 64... ...
This is a dynamic system; the Bow of sold energy to a rotating Earth, coupled with its own internal radioactive heat source, generates numerous cycles and changes, which act on widely varying time scales. Photosynthetic cycles, for
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From page 65... ...
4. How productive are the major ecosystems?
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From page 66... ...
Major Questions for Space Biology: 1995 to 2015 From 1995 to 2015 the steering group recommends addressing four major questions: I How do plant cells detect the gravity vector and transduce this force to hormonal Ed nonhormonal signals?
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From page 67... ...
Macroscopic solubility products do not readily explain the growth of these aggregates of crystallites. Space Medicine Goal The goat of space medicine is to understand the human ~oiology underlying the prophylaxis and therapy of maladaptations encountered; in extended space travel and to d;evelop prophylaxis and therapy to treat them if it is feasible.
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From page 68... ...
Although doctors may develop empirical procedures to alleviate the severity of dem~neralization, we must understand the underlying molecular and cellular biology of bone remodeling and of calcium and phosphate homeostasis. A similar question concerning biomineralization was posed for space biology, rejecting the frequent and productive interactions between clinicians and biologists.
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From page 69... ...
Although this development is, ~ a sense, a technological issue' it is so complex and requires so many advances in our understanding of biology that we can regard it as a major scientific goal that spans the interests of space medicine, space biology, and global biology. Aside from the challenges of growing plants at m~cr~g, and the utility of CELSS as a life support aid, the concept of constructing, at least partially, an artificial ecosystem is of great interest to the science of ecology.
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From page 70... ...
5. Refine laboratory experiments simulating likely prebiotic reactions as more results from missions accumulate and as molecular biology lends more insights into the fundamental structures and reactions of cells.
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From page 71... ...
lead to interpretative and predictive models. B-ecommendations for Space Biology and Space Medicine The steering group believes that these disciplines require a series of missions, each addressing one of the mad car research prom lems previously discussed.
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From page 72... ...
4. Evaluate the biological effects of heavy ion radiation thoroughly using accelerator sources.
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From page 73... ...
If such experiments are performed with flexible formats and appropriate controls, they may well reveal unanticipated phenomena of even greater interest. Although serendipity is hardly the basis of a ret search strategy, the steering group believes it a wise investment to apply some of the resources of the dedicated life sciences bay oratory to define the full range of questions best addressed at micro-g.
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