Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems 



• ARC, JSC, and KSC have strengths that could be used to support CELSS 

 research under strong Headquarters' leadership. 



• The NASA Space Biology Program conducts microgravity research and has 

 obtained information of interest to the CELSS Program, particularly concerning 

 cellular aberrations in microgravity that might be due to radiation effects. 



Recommendations 



• NASA should plan to develop a fully workable ground-based CELSS within 

 a decade that will provide the basis for designing a flight module and will 

 be integrated into space-based designs. 



• NASA should substantially increase funding for the CELSS Program, which 

 is currently budgeted at about $2 million per year. A sizable increase would 

 do the following: 



— Enable parallel rather than sequential development of food production, 

 food processing, and waste management 



— Shorten the time expected to complete the Breadboard Project and to 

 conduct the necessary basic research, systems development, and 

 integration required to provide design criteria for development of a 

 space-operated CELSS. 



• NASA should capitalize on the strengths of its field centers in CELSS 

 research. 



— ARC should continue to conduct the basic CELSS research in all areas, 

 with special focus on questions generated by the Breadboard Project. 



— JSC should contribute to subsystem development in the food and waste 

 areas, as well as in manned system testing that would support the 

 Breadboard Project. 



— KSC has initiated and should continue the pilot study in systems 

 integration necessary to establish design criteria for unmanned and 

 manned ground testing, in addition to flight systems. 



• The CELSS Program and Space Biology Program should coordinate their 

 activities in microgravity research. Efforts should be directed toward 

 answering questions related to Breadboard Project requirements, such as 

 increasing the efficiency of crop plants, using algal systems, breeding 

 appropriate species for the space environment, and exploring alternative 

 technologies, including tissue culture and genetic engineering. 



Flight Experiments 



Findings 



• A major problem for the CELSS Program is the lack of experience with plants 

 and plant growth systems in space. Many questions can be answered only in 

 the space environment, including: 



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