Psychological adaptation and salutogenesis in space: Lessons from a series of studies

Individuals who adapt positively to an inhospitable or extreme environment can derive benefit from their experiences. This positive effect may include an initial improvement in mental health as someone adjusts to the environment (adaptation) as well as more sustained personal growth during the mission (salutogenesis). We review relevant findings from our prior work, including two post-mission surveys of astronauts and cosmonauts, and three studies of crewmembers during missions in a space station simulator, the Mir space station, and the International Space Station (ISS). We also present new analyses showing evidence for adaptation to ISS missions. This finding replicates our previous results from the simulation study, but this effect was not found on the Mir. A better understanding of psychological adaptation and salutogenesis during space flight should help us develop strategies to enhance crewmembers’ in-flight stress tolerance and post-flight adjustment.     

Competitiveness of the European space industry. Lessons from Europe's role in NATO

This article aims to illustrate how the predominant role of the US military space capabilities within NATO adversely affects the European space industry's competitiveness and performance, as compared with the USA space industry. Thus, first the intra-NATO specialization is illustrated, followed by an analysis of the economics of the space industry. The connection is made through an economics model whose results verify the hypothesis, and predicts that the recent commitment by the WEU to military space can improve the position of the European space industry, especially if followed by close cooperation between the WEU and ESA.     

Ensuring equal access to the benefits of space technologies for all countries

There is a concern in the developing world that industrialized countries have not done all they might under Article 1 of the Outer Space Treaty to make the benefits of space technology available to all countries; some are now seeking codification of rights and responsibilities in this sphere. This article discusses recent debate on the issues by COPUOS and its Legal Subcommittee on whether an additional legal framework is necessary to ensure a fairer distribution of benefits. G77 countries were strongly in favour of some form of technology and information transfer, while industrialized countries favoured the existing practice of developing international cooperative space projects. The author believes that a new set of principles will be formulated in the next few years and that organizations like Intelsat and Inmarsat can provide valuable models for ensuring access through cooperative programmes.     

Space technology for humanity: A profile for the coming 50 years

Applications of space technology have provided remarkable benefits for humanity since the dawn of the Space Age and India presents an excellent example of the way space is able to benefit developing countries in areas as divergent as communications, education, disaster management, health-care, environmental monitoring, agriculture, water management and mapping. Nevertheless access to these benefits remains inequitable, with a large number of mainly developing countries and poorer sections of society not yet able to share in them. In addition, the world faces serious global challenges in the coming 50 years. The author discusses these challenges and the way they can be met using space technology, as well as ways of making space more inclusive. Key will be creating multilateral systems of systems. Some reform of laws and policies will also be needed.     

Lichens survive in space: results from the 2005 LICHENS experiment

This experiment was aimed at establishing, for the first time, the survival capability of lichens exposed to space conditions. In particular, the damaging effect of various wavelengths of extraterrestrial solar UV radiation was studied. The lichens used were the bipolar species Rhizocarpon geographicum and Xanthoria elegans, which were collected above 2000 m in the mountains of central Spain and as endolithic communities inhabiting granites in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. Lichens were exposed to space in the BIOPAN-5 facility of the European Space Agency; BIOPAN-5 is located on the outer shell of the Earth-orbiting FOTON-M2 Russian satellite. The lichen samples were launched from Baikonur by a Soyuz rocket on May 31, 2005, and were returned to Earth after 16 days in space, at which time they were tested for survival. Chlorophyll fluorescence was used for the measurement of photosynthetic parameters. Scanning electron microscopy in back-scattered mode, low temperature scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were used to study the organization and composition of both symbionts. Confocal laser scanning microscopy, in combination with the use of specific fluorescent probes, allowed for the assessment of the physiological state of the cells. All exposed lichens, regardless of the optical filters used, showed nearly the same photosynthetic activity after the flight as measured before the flight. Likewise, the multimicroscopy approach revealed no detectable ultrastructural changes in most of the algal and fungal cells of the lichen thalli, though a greater proportion of cells in the flight samples had compromised membranes, as revealed by the LIVE/DEAD BacLight Bacterial Viability Kit. These findings indicate that most lichenized fungal and algal cells can survive in space after full exposure to massive UV and cosmic radiation, conditions proven to be lethal to bacteria and other microorganisms. The lichen upper cortex seems to provide adequate protection against solar radiation. Moreover, after extreme dehydration induced by high vacuum, the lichens proved to be able to recover, in full, their metabolic activity within 24 hours.     

Status and efficacy of countermeasures to physiological deconditioning from space flight

The recent biomedical investigations conducted on the Space Shuttle and Spacelab have provided a wealth of biomedical information, including the ability to test the efficacy of proposed countermeasures. This achievement was made possible by the ability to conduct mechanistic and control-interventive studies simultaneously with a large number of individuals over a relatively brief period and to compare these data with results obtained from the Skylab missions. Comparisons between short- and long-duration results were limited to establishing trends or extrapolating from short-duration missions. To date, we have evaluated several protocols involving the lower-body negative pressure (LBNP) device, the bicycle-ergometer, the treadmill and preparations for body-fluid replenishment. In many instances, the traditional means of applying these protocols were not sufficient to protect against space-related deconditioning. This paper will review current countermeasures and compare their efficacy to that of existing protocols. Results from in-flight and ground-based experiments will be presented to illuminate the recommended protocols and procedures.     

Space product development: bringing the benefits of space down to Earth

In fulfilling the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) responsibility to encourage the fullest commercial use of space the Space Product Development (SPD) Program, within the Microgravity Research Program Office (MRPO) located at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, is managing an organization of Commercial Space Centers (CSC's) that have successfully employed methods for encouraging private industries to exploit the benefits of space-based research. Unique research opportunities of the space environment are being made available to private industry in an effort to develop new, competitive products; create jobs; and enhance the country's quality of life. Over 200 commercial research activities have been conducted in space by the CSC's and their industrial partners during the last several years. The success of this research is evidenced by the increasing amount of industrial participation in commercial microgravity research and the potential products nearing marketability.     

Mutagenesis in bacterial spores exposed to space and simulated martian conditions: data from the EXPOSE-E spaceflight experiment PROTECT

As part of the PROTECT experiment of the EXPOSE-E mission on board the International Space Station (ISS), the mutagenic efficiency of space was studied in spores of Bacillus subtilis 168. After 1.5 years' exposure to selected parameters of outer space or simulated martian conditions, the rates of induced mutations to rifampicin resistance (Rif(R)) and sporulation deficiency (Spo(-)) were quantified. In all flight samples, both mutations, Rif(R) and Spo(-), were induced and their rates increased by several orders of magnitude. Extraterrestrial solar UV radiation (>110?nm) as well as simulated martian UV radiation (>200?nm) led to the most pronounced increase (up to nearly 4 orders of magnitude); however, mutations were also induced in flight samples shielded from insolation, which were exposed to the same conditions except solar irradiation. Nucleotide sequencing located the Rif(R) mutations in the rpoB gene encoding the β-subunit of RNA polymerase. Mutations isolated from flight and parallel mission ground reference (MGR) samples were exclusively localized to Cluster I. The 21 Rif(R) mutations isolated from the flight experiment showed all a C to T transition and were all localized to one hotspot: H482Y. In mutants isolated from the MGR, the spectrum was wider with predicted amino acid changes at residues Q469K/L/R, H482D/P/R/Y, and S487L. The data show the unique mutagenic power of space and martian surface conditions as a consequence of DNA injuries induced by solar UV radiation and space vacuum or the low pressure of Mars.     

Design to safety: experience and plans of the Russian space suit programme

The paper presents the analysis of the Russian experience gained in the operations of Salyut-6, 7 and Mir orbital stations. The main factors determining their effectiveness and safety are considered and the main requirements to the EVA suit, as the most important tool for the EVA, are formulated.     

A combinatorial approach to biochemical space: description and application to the redox distribution of metabolism

Redox chemistry is central to life on Earth. It is well known that life uses redox chemistry to capture energy from environmental chemical energy gradients. Here, we propose that a second use of redox chemistry, related to building biomass from environmental carbon, is equally important to life. We apply a method based on chemical structure to evaluate the redox range of different groups of terrestrial biochemicals, and find that they are consistently of intermediate redox range. We hypothesize the common intermediate range is related to the chemical space required for the selection of a consistent set of metabolites. We apply a computational method to show that the redox range of the chemical space shows the same restricted redox range as the biochemicals that are selected from that space. By contrast, the carbon from which life is composed is available in the environment only as fully oxidized or reduced species. We therefore argue that redox chemistry is essential to life for assembling biochemicals for biomass building. This biomass-building reason for life to require redox chemistry is in addition (and in contrast) to life's use of redox chemistry to capture energy. Life's use of redox chemistry for biomass capture will generate chemical by-products-that is, biosignature gases-that are not in redox equilibrium with life's environment. These potential biosignature gases may differ from energy-capture redox biosignatures.     

从“四域”角度探讨网络电磁空间的组织结构

网络电磁空间是网络信息时代催生的新领域。根据网络电磁空间融合于物理域、信息域、认知域和社会域的特性,从四域的角度分析了网络电磁空间的组织结构,为深化网络电磁空间认识提供参考。     

Beyond global: the international imperative of space

Despite provisions declarations that outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all states, it is a finite resource. This article argues for the need to ensure rational use of this resource via a major restructuring of space law. Focusing on telecommunications it proposes a change in the assignment of radio-spectrum and suggests that space must be treated as a means of advancing genuine globalisation.     

Better ways of getting into the space business: microeconomic reform in Australian space affairs

This personal view of trends in global space enterprise suggests that, unless they adapt and re-structure, large-scale national and regional space agencies built on traditional lines may struggle to survive, at least in the developed world. With the growing maturity of speculative private sector space initiatives, the role of traditional space agencies as project managers and mediators between providers and the market may become redundant, while in the absence of a cogent national security argument, public interest in space is no longer to be relied upon to deliver large national space budgets. Australia’s newest space mission, the FedSat scientific microsatellite, was announced at the same time as the former national space program was terminated. This process and its consequences are examined as an instance of microeconomic reform, which seeks to improve productivity and competitiveness by producing a regulatory and infrastructure environment that gives business more flexibility. Historical circumstances unique to Australia may have contributed to this change of direction, but many contributing elements also apply elsewhere. The features of the new approach are identification of public sector space needs; selecting the most suitable team from both public and private sectors to manage the project; and the acceptance of a large proportion of the risk by the proponents.     

Meditations on the new space vision: the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars

The Vision for Space Exploration invokes activities on the Moon in preparation for exploration of Mars and also directs International Space Station (ISS) research toward the same goal. Lunar missions will emphasize development of capability and concomitant reduction of risk for future exploration of Mars. Earlier papers identified three critical issues related to the so-called NASA Mars Design Reference Mission (MDRM) to be addressed in the lunar context: (a) safety, health, and performance of the human crew; (b) various modalities of mission operations ranging surface activities to logistics, planning, and navigation; and (c) reliability and maintainability of systems in the planetary environment. In simple terms, lunar expeditions build a résumé that demonstrates the ability to design, construct, and operate an enterprise such as the MDRM with an expectation of mission success. We can evolve from Apollo-like missions to ones that resemble the complexity and duration of the MDRM. Investment in lunar resource utilization technologies falls naturally into the Vision. NASA must construct an exit strategy from the Moon in the third decade. With a mandate for continuing exploration, it cannot assume responsibility for long-term operation of lunar assets. Therefore, NASA must enter into a partnership with some other entity--governmental, international, or commercial--that can responsibly carry on lunar development past the exploration phase.     

Arms control and disarmament in space: the rough road to Vienna 1984: Part I

This article examines the international legal and diplomatic questions relating to arms control and disarmament, focusing on space-based activities. These relate importantly to the development of anti-satellite satellites (ASATs) and ballistic missile defence systems (BMDs). Part I of the article examines the goal of ‘peaceful uses’ of outer space as elaborated in national policies and in international fora, the debate that has has taken place at the international level over the meaning and definition of peaceful purposes, legal manoeuvres, particularly in the UN, and US responses, and recent Soviet initiatives relating to space militarization. Part II will appear in the next issue, and will consider the US Presidential-Congressional dialogue on these questions and recent Presidential initiatives.