ASEN 5016 Lecture 27a: Space Biotechnology
OBJECTIVES
1. Define Biotechnology
2. Identify space biotech research topics and rationale for a few specific examples
3. Summarize space flight operational considerations
1. Biotechnology (from Smith, 1996)
"Applications of biological processes to industrial needs"
Historically can be thought of as being more of an art form than a science…
Manufacturing of beer, cheese, wine, vinegar, yogurt, etc.
Interdisciplinary - spans engineering, biology, chemistry and other fields
Life sciences affect over 30% of global economy
Health care, food and energy, agriculture and forestry
Drug production, transgenic organisms, biological fuels, gene therapy and bioremediation
In essence, biotechnology implies the "use of microbial, animal or plant cells or enzymes to synthesize, break down or transform materials"
Commercial categories
Therapeutics – pharmaceutical products for the cure or control of human diseases including antibiotics, vaccines and gene therapy
Diagnostics – clinical testing and diagnosis for food, environment and agriculture, immunoassays
Food – wide range of food products, fertilizers, beverages, vitamins and pesticides
Environment – waste treatment, bioremediation, energy, agriculture
Chemical – enzymes, acetic acid, glycerol, methane, ethanol
Equipment – bioreactors, monitoring sensors and software
2. Space Biotech Research Topics
Basic research leading to applied technologies
Agricultural
Biomedical
Bioprocessing
Microgravity Sciences
Common underlying gravity-dependent physical phenomena
· Materials
· Combustion
· Fluids
· Biological systems
Microbial systems – fermentation
· Stimulating overproduction of secondary metabolites
1. Increased production of Monorden
2. Increased production of Actinomycin D
Summary
of BioServe antibiotic production experiment on ISS 8A
Processes affected by physical and chemical environment
Separation processes – preparative or analytical electrophoresis
Ground controls / clinostats
3. Space flight operational Considerations
Hardware modifications - complexity, automation, crew time, etc.
Operations – pre-flight, in-flight and recovery
Cost-to-orbit (~$10,000 per lbm.) à economics (value added)
Limited frequency of space access
Shuttle - limited mission duration of ~16 days
ISS – ‘flexible’ return dates
Cellular Bioprocessing (Space) hardware design
requirements
General
1. 3 levels of sample containment, initial chamber isolation with on orbit mixing, but with sampling capability and gas exchange
2. Thermal control
3. Process monitoring / environment optimization
4. Product separation and analysis or stabilization / stowage
5. Return to Earth or in-flight analysis?
Unique to space
"Late Access" loading
Powered transfers – lab to shuttle, shuttle to ISS, ISS to shuttle, runway to lab (KSC vs. DRFC landing…)
No sedimentation / mixing limited to "diffusion only"
Direct effects on organisms (~internal trigger)
Indirect effects on system (~external trigger)
Fluid containment in weightlessness à multiple levels (with gas transfer, but without evaporation)
Oxygen supply kinetics
Liquid / gas interfaces
3g launch loads followed by weightless operations
Typical STS middeck locker runs on 130 W (28 v dc)
ISS opportunities
Continuous presence, long duration experimentation
Telescience / telemetry / commanding
Hardware design and orbital lab procedures
Logistics involving sample/stock/products up and down
Downmass is the more challenging of the two for the foreseeable future…
Copyright © 2008 The
Regents of the