Questions and areas of study that need to be persued in order to develope a Controlled Ecological Life Support System are posed. Research topics needing attention are grouped under various leadings: ecology, genetics, plant pathology, cybernetics, chemistry, computer science, fluid dynamics, optics, and solid-state physics

Rummel, J. D.

English

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CELSS SCIENCE NEEDS 
John D. Rummel 
Life Science Division 
NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 
Introduction 
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In the development of a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) it 
is periodically useful to review the -project to identify those areas that are most 
in need of research This paper is my own view of what is necessary to accomplish 
in CELSS science. It is not intended to be definitive, but to be an heuristic tool 
to focus attention on outstanding questions. Any list of this sort is sure to have 
omissions, and mine is no exception, though it is reasonable to' expect that a list 
of science questions will continue to evolve as some of those questions are 
answered and while new areas of interest are being uncbvered. 
Despite the evident difficulties, I propose the following list of areas where 
further investigation is needed before we can build a workable CELSS. To make 
these suggestions more concrete, each of them is numbered to correspond to specific 
portions of the CELSS that is diagrammed in Figure 1. Each of the numbered areas 
will be affected by the research in question. In the spirit of this paper the 
details of Figure 1 are not meant to represent the final design of a CELSS. In 
fact, the schematic shown does not even reflect my own current thinking on that 
subject Nevertheless, I hope it will be a useful "straw man" for the purpose 
intended. 
CELSS Science Needs 
Biological Sciences 
Ecology 
1. Investigate the dynarnical behavior of the system, and adjust the design to 
minimize buffer sizes, while assuring system stability and safe operation. 
2. Develop and characterize a benign microbial community to enhance plant growth, 
and to provide protection against plant pathogens. 
Genetics 
3. Provide novel cultivars that will increase yields within a sinall volume. 
Select plants that will be able to thrive at less than one gravity. 
Plant Pathology 
4. Develop prevention and control measures for plant pathogens 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19860010454 2020-03-20T15:10:44+00:00Z
Plant Physiology 
5. Characterize optimal growth needs of crop plants useful for a CELSS. 
6. Develop control methods for crop plants (control growth, transpiration, etc.). 
7. Characterize the gas exchange capacity of crop plants under different growth 
regimes, and during different phases of the plant's life cycle. 
8. Explore the use of transpiration water as drinking water under the full range 
of growth regimes envisioned. 
9. Characterize the production of secondary compounds by crop plants under the 
growth regimes envisioned. 
10. Evaluate the potential for mixed-crop and continuous-harvest systems under 
CELSS constraints. 
11. Develop a method to orient crop species in micro4 
Medical Sciences 
Nutrition Science 
12. Fully define human nutritional requirements, and determine the extent that 
they can be met by a CELSS. 
13. Characterize the waste materials produced by humans on a CELSS-compatible 
diet 
Human PhysiologyiSpace Physiology 
14. Characterize human metabolic activity and gas physiology in the micro-G 
environment over a long-duration mission. 
Toxicology 
15. Characterize the long-term effects of exposure to low levels of plant 
secondary compounds 
Computer Science 
Artificial Intelligence/Robotics 
16. Develop the capability for remote monitoring and control of plants and algae. 
17. Develop the capability for automated harvesting, with quality assurance and 
food preservation needs being met 
Cybernetics 
18. Develop methods for overall system control and failure analysis, perhaps by 
integrating a computational model of the system with the system itself. 
Chemistry 
Analytical Chemistry 
19. Develop monitoring capabilities for the nutrient solutions and waste streams. 
20. Develop monitoring capabilities,for mixed-gas streams. 
21. Develop capabilities to monitor small quantities of plant secondary compounds 
and potential toxins in real time. 
Physical Chemistry 
22. Develop appropriate models to predict the behavior of nutrients in solution. 
23. Develop appropriate models to predict the behavior of mixed-gas streams. 
24. Develop a method for separation and storage of nutrients from the waste 
stream. 
25. Optimize gas-separation methods to match CELSS power and volume constraints. 
26. Develop methods for control of nutrient solutions in the growth chambers. 
Materials Chemistry 
27. Develop processes for the small-scale handling of plant by-products. 
Waste Chemistry 
28. Perfect techniques for physical-chemical waste treatment 
29. Investigate hybrid waste-treatrnent techniques (to include the use of 
genetically engineered microbes to detoxify waste). 
30. Develop specific techniques to remove low-level toxins and plant secondary 
compounds from both liquids and gases 
Physics 
Fluid Dynamics 
31. Develop systems for mixed-gas storage in mic ro4  
32. Develop methods for mixing the algal-growth media and controlling the 
waste-processing streams in micro-G 
283 
Optics 
33. Develop an optimized system to provide photosynthetically active light to the 
growth chambers 
Solid-StateIAtomic Physics 
34. Determine the most efficient way to provide the radiation shielding necessary 
to protect the system from long-term damage and performance degradation. 


CELSS science needs

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