Applications 



Applications Potential of Life Sciences Programs 



The Life Sciences Division does not specifically support any applications research 

 or technology transfer projects, but many of the efforts in Operational Medicine, 

 Space Medicine and Biology, Flight Programs, and Biological Systems Research 

 have near-term or long-term commercial potential. 



Biomedical Research Program. In conjunction with the Health Maintenance 

 Facility sponsored by the Space Station Office, a research program was developed 

 by the Life Sciences Division to define the operational requirements of the HMF 

 and to conduct the research necessary to support its design and implementation. 

 Developments are anticipated in analytical and surgical techniques and in non- 

 invasive diagnostic measures, such as digital imaging of hard and soft body tissue. 

 The HMF also offers new opportunities to adapt anesthetics, sterile manipulation 

 devices, and drugs to combat the deleterious effects of space flight. A number of 

 these and other practices developed by the Biomedical Research Program may find 

 application in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease on Earth. 



Other Scientific Programs. The Life Sciences Division supports a number of 

 scientific programs, including those in exobiology, global biology, and the 

 physiology of plants and animals. The investigations under way in these 

 disciplines are primarily basic research. Generally, no near-term commercial 

 applications are obvious in these areas, although 

 applications with enormous usefulness to 

 society may emerge at any time, often in quite 

 unanticipated ways, as can happen with all 

 basic research. The understanding built on 

 scientific discovery serves as the foundation for 

 technical innovation, technology transfer, and 

 commercially viable applications. 



Findings and 

 Recommendations 



Finding 



• Although NASA's primary goal is space 



exploration, the Agency has a long history in 

 applications research and technology transfer. 

 Public and commercial sectors of the Nation 

 have given considerable support to programs 

 that adapt innovations from the space 

 program to the national defense and to new 

 commercial products and services. The pri- 

 mary responsibilities of the NASA Life 

 Sciences programs are in scientific and 

 biomedical research, not in applications 

 research and technology transfer. While the 



Agricultural practices show up as patterns of circles and squares 

 in this Landsat 5 image of Garden City, Kansas. Squares are 

 fields of crops, while circles result from the practice of center 

 pivot irrigation. Color variations can be attributed to differences 

 in crops and to different stages of crop maturity. 



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