This week's report is actually a part of the last report which was removed for brevity, so
it may seem to end abruptly.  Another report is in the pipes.  If you feel like it, please send
me questions or feedback on the reports as I don't really know how they are being received (apart
from a few responders).  As usual, if there are questions please ask. 

     Before I went to Florida I didn't realize that Cape Canaveral air station and Kennedy Space
Center were two distinct entities; the cape is an air force base south of KSC, which is a more
modern "spaceport."  Early space activities took place at the cape, but Kennedy was constructed
for Apollo (I think that's what I heard, at any rate all of the apollo facilities are/were
there).  The cape still launches rockets, but they are all military vehicles.  The early launch
facilities for two of NASA's earliest manned missions, Mercury and Gemini, are on the cape, as
are even older facilities used for space - related activities prior to the formation of NASA in
1958. 

     One of NASA's least publicized sections is it's biological sciences research arm.  NASA
employs a number of biologists, many of whom are medical doctors and plant physiologists.  It is
an old effort, and the facilities are still located at the cape, although technically they belong
to KSC (there are more life science facilities at Johnson and other sites).  It takes about five
or ten minutes to get there from KSC on a special road connecting the two.  We visited two good -
sized buildings devoted entirely to biosciences.  Both buildings were filled with plant
laboratories.  Yes, plants everywhere - I didn't see many animals, I guess that's what astronauts
are for!  The efforts of the scientists in these facilities is primarily aimed at producing
sustainable systems for long - term space habitation. 

     The most interesting thing I saw during this part of the visit was the CELSS (Controlled
Ecological Life Support System) lab.  The centerpiece of this lab is the "biomass production
chamber," a gargantuan setup that would have done justice to any 1950's science fiction movie. 
It's a two-story high capsule that was recycled from the mercury project; formerly it was a
vacuum chamber used to test space capsules.  What it looks like now is an upended giant white
tylenol capsule with portholes, surrounded by an acre of climate control, gas cylinders, and
atmospheric/water conditioning equipment.  Massive pipes and cable bundles grow from it like
vines in a rain forest (is the description corny?  It's the best way I can think of to describe
it!).  Within the cylinder it is possible to control all parameters, such as atmospheric content,
temperature, etc.  It is filled with plants growing in experimental media.  There are
hydroponics, but they are not ideal because they involve open tanks of fluids which ar e hard to
control in zero gravity.  Because an ecosystem must have animals to convert oxygen back into
carbon dioxide for the plants, and fungi must be present to recycle waste from the plants and
animals, there are also fish and trays of yeast in the env ironment.  The state of this
micro-ecosystem can be determined at any time because all materials in the tank are constantly
monitored.  A room filled with custom - built electronics and computer equipment running special
software can present data in a number of ways.  Of course all data is stored and reviewed. 

     Adjacent to this getup is a suite of biolabs in which assays are performed and many other
types of analysis carried out.  Anyone who has spent time in a university biolab setting would
recognize the smells and sights; the facilities are quite good.  We were shown several different
products produced in the CELSS including wheat, soybeans, potatoes, rice, peanuts, lettuce, and a
rather pungent mess made from yeast, which is supposed to be incredibly good for you.  I'm glad I
don't have to live on it!  Another unspeakably repugnant product was substance made from
macerated yeast, plant, and fish remains, which will be used as a fertilizer. 

     When all is said and done the people of the CELSS hope to accomplish the following
objectives: create a closed, sustainable system which will generate oxygen, purify water, process
waste, and produce food for astronauts.  The technology to do this is relatively undeveloped;
astronauts have not been able to keep much alive in space.  Life on earth has developed under
several "assumptions:"  gravity, warmth, and the availability of free power from the sun.  These
things either don't exist or are difficult to obtain aboard spaceships.  For instance, on earth
gravity pulls atmospheric gases down into the soil.  As a result, the roots of a plant have
access to the gaseous exchange mechanisms upon which they depend.  In space it is difficult to
arrange soil so that gases and water flow through it properly; the only mechanism freely
available for transport through soil is diffusion, which isn't good enough.  Consider the light a
plant receives; it takes a lot of energy to provide light for a plant.  If you can't garauntee a
good window for the plant( you can't, for a variety of reasons), you'll have to light it
artificially, which is too expensive in terms of energy.  Researchers at NASA are spending a lot
of time trying to figure out exactly what types of light are needed by different plants and how
to generate that light; LEDs are being used in the most recent experiments because of thier low
power draw.  The lack of gravity does strange things to some plants and nothing at all to others;
some plants appear to grow normally in zero gravity but lack certain vitamins.  Other plants grow
in bizarre shapes or refuse to begin reproductive cycles. 

     Despite the research, this area of knowledge is rather primitive compared to computers or
material science.  We are a long way away from having a sustainable environment that can support
manned interplanetary flight, although it will be possible to install test systems aboard the
international space station around 2000 (assuming it gets built, which looks inevitible).  Other
centers, such as Johnson and Marshall, also have biological research programs which are persuing
the renewable habitat from different standpoints; some researchers are using only chemicals, some
are using hybrid biological/mechanical/chemical systems.  No one is sure which direction will be
the most useful.