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Assessment of Programs in
Space Biology and Medicine 1991
2
Science Program and Policy Issues
INTRODUCTION
In reviewing the numerous reports published under its auspices, the
Committee on Space Biology and Medicine (CSBM) was reminded of a long-
standing consensus regarding the disciplines under its purview. A continuing and
major feature of the committee's various deliberations concerns the manner in
which NASA "does business" in the general area of life sciences. The nature of
life sciences research requires a program more analogous to that of other federal
agencies that support basic life sciences research than has been the case with
NASA's life sciences program to date.
This is not to suggest that NASA should be reconfigured to function like
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the National Science Foundation (NSF),
or other relevant federal agencies. However, it has been suggested that since
this type of research requires an empirical approach, a departure from those
practices that have been traditionally employed in conducting NASA's space
biology and medicine program may be justified and could prove more efficient for
reaching its long-term goals.
The Goldberg Strategy contained several recommendations concerned
with a number of science program and policy issues. Because of the perceived
significance of these recommendations, they are discussed at the beginning of
this evaluation.
MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS
Science Program Issues
Space biology and medicine are dynamic sciences, continually evolving,
sometimes quite rapidly, as new results and technological developments occur.
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Hence, the Goldberg Strategy. recommended that standing panels of 5 to 10
qualified scientists be created to review, update, and refine the research strategy
in each subdiscipline of space biology and medicine.
Since the facilities and personnel available for research activities in space
biology and medicine, which are under the direct auspices of NASA, are
extremely limited, and recognizing the importance of ground-based research, the
committee recommended that NASA increase its interaction with the academic
community.
As the design of experiments in space biology and medicine requires
continuous access to space as well as the necessity for manned intervention, the
Goldberg Strategy contained two major recommendations relative to the
projected use of the Space Station. Specifically, the committee suggested that:
(a) there be a dedicated life sciences laboratory on the Space Station, i.e.,
research space on individual modules should not be shared with other
disciplines, and (b) that space biology and medicine research time on the Space
Station be allocated in 3- to 6-month increments, with each block devoted to a
single research area such as neurovestibular research. Related to this, two or
more payload specialists on each flight should be practicing laboratory scientists
in the particular research areas assigned blocks of time on Space Station.
Recognizing the need for controlled experiments as well as the need to
evaluate the role of variable gravitational forces in affecting biological processes,
the Goldberg Strategy (as well as numerous NASA and non-NASA reports)
recommended in the strongest possible terms the requirement for a variable force
centrifuge of the largest possible dimensions in any facility designed to obtain
data on the role of microgravity in affecting biological processes.
Variable Force Centrifuge (VFC). Such a device is the single most
important facility in any life sciences program. A VFC has three equally important
functions. (1) It provides an on-board 1-g control that can separate the influence
of weightlessness from the other effects of spaceflight. (2) Microgravity has both
short-term and long-term effects on biological systems. Both kinds of effects
involve important biological phenomena. Their study is greatly facilitated by a
VFC, which allows exposure to microgravity or to gravitational forces for varying
periods of time. (3) The removal of gravitational forces is already known to have
major impacts on biological systems. In such cases, it is of particular importance
to determine if there is a threshold force required for a response to occur and,
more generally, to ascertain the dose-response relationship. A VFC offers the
crucial advantage in answering these questions, since it makes possible the
introduction of fractional g forces. From these comments, it can be appreciated
that a VFC should increase the scientific return from space experiments by
orders of magnitude.
This committee has been apprised of the engineering problems involved
in the inclusion of a large centrifuge in a freely floating Space Station.
Nevertheless, the committee still recommends that a variable force centrifuge of
the largest possible dimensions be designed, built, and included in the initial
operating configuration of the Life Sciences Laboratory. A YFC is an essential
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instrument for the future of space biology and medicine. (SSB, 1987, p. 15)
Finally, the committee provided several recommendations concerned with
the acquisition, transmission, processing, and storage of data obtained from
space. Specifically, it was recommended that dedicated microcomputers and
communications capabilities be used for process control, data storage, or both,
and that rapid communication in real time with ground based research teams be
a goal.
Science Policy Issues
Because of the extremely limited access to space, the Goldberg Strategy
recommended that any Announcements of Opportunity (AOs) or NASA Research
Announcements (NRAs) concerned with Shuttle flight or Space Station should be
targeted to a particular subdiscipline and should state explicitly the major
research questions that the mission is intended to address.
While the responsibility for a coordinated program in space biology and
medicine clearly rests with NASA, the facilities and personnel in NASA are
insufficient to undertake the research necessary to address the biological
problems associated with the effects of microgravity on biological processes. For
this reason, the CSBM has strongly and repeatedly recommended that NASA
solicit the participation of other relevant federal agencies. These include NIH,
NSF, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA),
among others.
Finally, considering the expense and commitment of resources to
research in space biology and medicine, the committee recommended that
cooperation between international partners be explored to the fullest extent in
undertaking the requisite research strategies required for a sustained human
presence in space. This approach is particularly relevant with respect to our
foreign partners as design and development of Space Station Freedom proceed.
PROGRESS
A number of the recommendations outlined in the 1979, 1987, and 1988
reports cited above have been fully implemented. For example, NASA has
undertaken a reorganization of its advisory structure in the area of life sciences
and has created several discipline working groups along the subdiscipline lines
recommended. NRAs and AOs for forthcoming missions have become more
highly focused. NASA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding. (MOU) with
NIH regarding research efforts in space biology and medicine and has initiated
contact with NSF and the USDA. The level of cooperation with foreign partners
has increased dramatically and includes not only joint efforts concerning
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utilization of Space Station Freedom but also joint missions on forthcoming
Shuttle flights and possibly even sharing of data, facilities, and equipment, and
flying of experiments on COSMOS with the Soviet Union. Finally, NASA is in the
process of establishing Specialized Centers of Research and Training
(NSCORTs) to increase the scope of its interaction with the academic
community. The initial NSCORTs, to be established beginning in 1991, will be
focused on gravitational biology, environmental health, and bioregenerative life
support. This is an excellent approach for increasing the science community's
involvement in space biology and medicine and will focus research efforts in
areas critical to a long-term human presence in space. In summary, NASA, and
specifically life sciences within NASA, has made a significant and noteworthy
effort to implement many of the recommendations contained in CSBM reports.
LACK OF PROGRESS
There has been essentially no progress in addressing recommendations
associated with the design and utilization of the presently planned space station.
At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that the recommendation for a
dedicated life science laboratory has been seriously considered. Current plans
call for sharing the U.S. and other lab modules between two major users,
biology/medicine and microgravity (materials science) research. If this decision is
final, it could significantly decrease the scientific return from Space Station
utilization for both disciplines because of differing laboratory environment
requirements.
The recommendation that 3- to 6-month blocks of time on Space Station
be assigned to specific subdisciplines of space biology and medicine is not
included in current planning. Again, the potential for meaningful scientific return
will be seriously diminished if current plans proceed.
Finally, while virtually every internal and external life sciences advisory
group over the last 20 years has emphasized the critical need for a VFC in space,
this facility continues to be the subject of debate. In fairness, the debate has not
been so much at the level of NASA as in the Congress. There appears to be a
major asynchrony between the research time that will be available on the station
to solve the concerns associated with human adaptation to a microgravity
environment and national goals and timetables associated with human
exploration.
In terms of the broad issues associated with data management, it is
imperative that the "user community" be involved in the design and utilization of
the appropriate hardware and software. It has become clear that NASA does not
have a central data base with all results from previous flights relevant to space
biology and medicine. Similarly, a central data base does not exist on the results
obtained from ground-based experiments relevant to the various subdisciplines.
Individual investigators currently have no way to search archives for the literature
on space biology and medicine. This is especially serious since much of the data
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which do exist have not been published in the open literature; they exist solely in
NASA technical bulletins and the like. This practice opens the possibility that,
among other things, the design of new experiments can become needlessly
repetitive. There is some indication that NASA is aware of this critical deficiency
and is planning steps to resolve the problem. We believe it essential to do so.
