Will Space Flights Save The Planet? - Alternative View

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Will Space Flights Save The Planet? - Alternative View
Will Space Flights Save The Planet? - Alternative View

Video: Will Space Flights Save The Planet? - Alternative View

Video: Will Space Flights Save The Planet? - Alternative View
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The planet is heating up, the oceans are oxidizing, the forests of the Amazon are on fire, and the Arctic is covered with microplastics instead of snow. The harm from humanity, experts say, is so great that a global ecological catastrophe has already begun. Even optimists find it hard to deny that our ecological footprint is more like the footprints of heavy shoes that we trample the face of the planet. Against this gloomy background, a reasonable question is brewing: is it not reckless to throw out huge amounts of money to send people into deep space, to other worlds? Or maybe, on the contrary, this is a cynical solution to the pressing problems of a planet falling into a tailspin?

Nevertheless, space travel may well provide humanity with much more than just a life-saving straw for eccentric billionaires. Whether it's modern spacecraft in low-Earth orbit or future outposts on the Moon or Mars, we will have to reproduce the life cycle outside our planet one way or another. And for current and future space flights, technologies of a closed cycle and universal processing are needed - they will provide an inexhaustible flow of water, air and food.

On the other hand, we already know how we endanger the planet, and what needs to be done about it. “All the tools you need for sustainable living are here and now,” said Kate Marvel, a Columbia University climatologist and NASA associate. "Yes, we still cannot solve the problem of climate change, but not at all because we are attracted by space." Space flights alone cannot save the Earth, and even more so with naive dreams of leaving their home planet.

Agriculture Tin Can

It is impossible to survive without technological innovation in space, but past decisions were of a purely temporary nature. Just remember the series of manned flights by NASA on the Apollo spacecraft - their maximum duration reached 12 days. But change is just around the corner: the Trump administration is promising to land on the moon by 2024. Luke Robertson, senior flight test scientist at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, says the agency intends to build sustainable infrastructure on the lunar surface by 2028, which will require long-term, renewable storage of food, air and water.

Some of these technologies will go beyond astronautics. Eventually, quite a few inventions developed by space agencies migrated to the commercial sector. Take, for example, a number of ecologically oriented projects - including sustainable oil production and the use of LED lighting for crop cultivation.

Harvesting crops in space is not a trivial task. So technologies such as specialized lighting and advanced sensors are playing a key role on board the International Space Station (ISS), where energy-efficient methods such as the Veggi system are used to produce food, explains NASA grower Gioia Massa. Plant growth LEDs were first used in the 1980s as part of NASA experiments. These days, Massa notes, this technology saves a lot of energy in greenhouse crop production.

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NASA also worked with Florikan. This company is developing polymer-coated fertilizers that release nutrients slowly and gradually. This helps to reduce fertilizer runoff into the environment and reduce environmental damage. Fertilizers, Massa says, have been successfully used in space and have proven themselves well on the ISS. Although they are intended for further use in space, they are also successfully used in commercial agriculture.

Some environmental innovations have only come about because NASA is working towards responsible environmental management, says Daniel Lockney, head of technology transfer. Building space equipment on Earth is a messy business. Fuels, paints, solvents and other toxic materials can be released into the environment. This is why NASA developed emulsified zero valence iron (EZVI), a material that “sticks” to chlorinated solvents in groundwater. Initially it was used to clean up launch sites, but gradually it was applied in chemical plants and heavily contaminated sites under the government's Superfund program.

Cosmonauts and earthlings alike need a supply of drinking water. Poisoned water kills millions of people every year, and all means are good to prevent this tragedy.

A good example of how NASA can solve this problem is the microbiological check valve. The system was originally developed for American spacecraft, but its improved version is installed aboard the ISS, passively preventing harmful microbes from entering the drinking water tanks. Other modifications are working on Earth, keeping the water clean in polluted areas without access to electricity - and in dental surgeries. (Remember the liquid you rinse your mouth with after seeing your doctor? Well, this water has gone through the same cleaning to minimize the risk of oral infections.)

Roberson and Melanie Pickett, a NASA Scientist with a PhD, are working on water purification systems for space travel, including the ISS. Wastewater is now treated with chemicals. “But these chemicals are not sustainable,” says Roberson. The system requires constant replenishment from Earth. He and Pickett are developing new systems that use plants and microbes to process waste. Ultimately, this will turn out to be a new word in the work of toilets and septic tanks on Earth.

As with water, making breathable air a limitless resource in space is far from easy. On the ISS, oxygen is traditionally extracted from water - it has to be constantly brought in from Earth, which is expensive and wasteful. Since 2018, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been trying to turn things around with a new, advanced closed-loop system that removes carbon dioxide from the space station's atmosphere, releases oxygen to replenish breathable air, and saves water.

Albeit on a disproportionately large scale and with different operational requirements, carbon capture systems will be very useful on Earth as part of a comprehensive solution to climate problems. Technology developed for space may well work on Earth.

Random additional effects

One of the main principles of all these innovations is that nothing is wasted. In space, Massa notes, even waste is considered a valuable resource and it is reckless to dispose of it. This is the basis for closed-loop systems: ideally, all components are processed without exception, and no waste is created at all. Imagine a sealed terrarium where miniature plant ecosystems live and thrive for decades without the slightest outside interference.

The Microecological Life Support System Alternative or Melissa (MELiSSA) project strictly follows this principle. With the help of a continuously improved pilot plant in Barcelona, this project, under the auspices of the European Space Agency (ESA), is working to create a closed biological life support system.

The pilot plant, which uses photosynthesis to process waste, purify air, supply oxygen and produce food, is inhabited not by astronauts, but by rats. During her work, several generations of animals have already changed, and hitherto there have been no victims among them. A number of Melissa-related experiments - for example, Artemiss, to produce food biomass and oxygen from photosynthesis - are being successfully deployed on the ISS.

The project was launched in 1989 to create a life-support system for the crew on a long interplanetary journey by the mid-2020s. Its results have been promising, says Christophe Lasseur, head of Melissa at ESA. For example, the same urine purification technology can be applied to remote areas and disaster sites - saving money on the costly transportation of drinking water from afar.

Lofty ideals are one thing, but the criterion of all truth is practice. Not all innovations are realized, and besides, it is certainly not overnight. As Robertson explains, it takes seven to ten years on average for his own inventions to reach commercial levels. Melissa is designed for 50 years.

We have to be patient. “Actually, this is very far-sighted,” says Lockney. “We have no doubt that the water is wet. So investing in new experiments will sooner or later give us inventions that will benefit all of humanity."

The innovations only underline the need to invest in design and development work. “The most curious thing about science is that you never know what will happen in the end,” says Marvel. In the end, no one guessed that the Internet and the Large Hadron Collider would turn out from the same endeavor.

Aside from the long lead times and the element of unpredictability, astronautics has already helped create a range of effective (if not revolutionary) consumer technologies. Why are they still little known to the general public? Chad Anderson, CEO of venture capital group Space Angels, believes some of this can be attributed to bad marketing.

Anderson believes that technology transfer from space has led to significant advances in sustainable manufacturing, as well as in more mundane areas of transport, health care and communications. The problem is that space agencies fail to effectively advertise their success stories to the general public. "Space companies are notorious for poor self-promotion," says Anderson.

Ironically, Anderson says, tackling the current situation reflects an even bigger challenge. Take, for example, NASA's corporate publication Spinoff magazine, which has been covering technology innovations since 1976. Despite its solid pedigree, the magazine remains a highly specialized and inaccessible publication - it is almost never read, and many have never heard of it. To interest the public and reach the general reader, Anderson recommends that the relationship between astronautics and everyday life be emphasized more clearly.

Honey, I shrunk the planet

Be that as it may, environmental innovation is welcome, but we cannot rely on technological solutions alone. The land is quite livable, says Marvel, and there is nothing to strive to move to cans. Fortunately, some projects not only allow us to survive in space, but help us get to know our own planet better.

Take the famous Biosphere 2 in Arizona. In the 1990s, a cutting-edge experiment took place here: carefully selected men and women were placed in a kind of isolated habitat for two years to observe the development of their relationships and ecosystems (Assuming that "Biosphere-1" is the Earth).

Although most of "Biosphere-2" was remembered for the episode when the oxygen level dropped so much that the life of the inhabitants was in danger and outside intervention was required, the experiment turned out to be more successful than it might seem. Scientists have understood a lot about the life support systems of the Earth, and various scientific works poured out like a cornucopia. This, in fact, was the idea: to understand the various systems of the Earth in order to better manage the planet, explains John Adams, the current deputy director of the facility, which later passed to the University of Arizona.

Today, the site reproduces several model ecosystems - from naturalistic rain forests to the oceanic mass. By manipulating the various elements of these ecosystems together and individually, scientists try to understand how their real-world counterparts work (and break down).

In the same place, but not within the framework of the initial experiment "Biosphere-2", the Observatory of Landscape Evolution is functioning. It consists of three massive structures built on the slope of volcanic basalt, which in many ways resembles the terrain of Mars. Peter Troch, Science Director of Biosphere 2, explains that the observatory is helping to understand how to turn a lifeless landscape into something sustainable. "Typically, the physical and biological worlds are tightly welded together, and it is not easy to separate them to understand the dynamics of their relationships and connect them again," says Adams. The Observatory of Landscape Evolution is intended for this "ecological opening".

While this work focuses primarily on the space environment, Troch notes, the knowledge gained could help restore Earth's most severely degraded ecosystems. “Whether in space or on Earth, we are solving the same problems,” says Daniele Laurini, head of ESA's research systems.

An understanding of the Earth is paramount here. "If we still do not understand how the earthly systems work, thanks to which we live and on which we depend, then why did we imagine that we could recreate them?" Adams asks.

Space technologies certainly play a key role - and not only in life support systems. After all, thanks to the same satellites, we have been observing the planet with an unprecedented level of detail for several decades. For climatologists and environmentalists, this was a watershed moment, Marvel notes.

But if we keep the Earth fit for life - and we are already quite capable of solving this crisis - then what is the point of striving for the stars? We can produce oxygen on Mars so that we have something to breathe, or grow lettuce on the Moon so that we have something, but the Earth has already given us all this, says Massa. Perhaps, she muses, the challenges of survival in space will make humans appreciate more of the things we take for granted at home.

Robin George Andrews