NASA

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Space Synthetic Biology – a Tool for Space Science and Exploration

NASA's mission is broadly defined: "to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research". Synthetic Biology will one day provide more efficient, lower cost, practical approaches to specific challenges in space. NASA programs can derive significant benefits by utilizing this emerging field to create advances for biological life support and in-situ resource utilization, for radiation and gravitational biology countermeasures, for advanced sensing, advanced materials, and for research in the origins and evolution of life.

The NASA Space Synthetic Biology Project is designed to harness biology in reliable, robust, engineered systems to support NASA’s exploration and science missions, to improve life on Earth, and to help shape NASA’s future. The project is also intended to contribute foundational tools to the synthetic biology community. It is led by the NASA Ames Research Center. See our website at http://syntheticbiology.arc.nasa.gov/.

While advances in biosciences and biotechnology will no doubt transform the world in this “century of biology,” Synthetic Biology in particular holds the potential for rapid, game-changing advances, since it liberates humanity from the slow creep of natural evolution. This is particularly relevant to NASA’s long-term exploration missions, which will require biological systems and ecosystems to be sustained in extraterrestrial environments. Biological systems that have evolved in terrestrial environments are generally not well suited to extraterrestrial environments, and the time required for evolutionary adaptation is far too great. NASA’s solution has been to sustain life in space by engineering suitable environments. Advances in Synthetic Biology will provide complementary capability to engineer biological systems better suited to extraterrestrial environments.

As a participant in iGEM, we hope you will consider exploring projects related to space technology needs, including:

1. Closed-loop Life Support Systems - Conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen, advanced wastewater treatment, conversion of solid waste to useful products (fuels, food, plastic), enhanced food production
2. In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) –Systems for resource extraction and utilization from in situ sources as well as recycled spacecraft materials, and materials acquired in transit. What could be produced from the materials available on asteroids, Mars or the moon, or the International Space Station? How can Synthetic Biology help optimize these systems?
3. Advanced Sensors – Biologically-mediated and regenerable sensors for highly selective/sensitive detection of organic and inorganic materials
4. Advanced Materials – Terrestrial and in situ production of biological and bio-inspired micro/macro materials
5. Establishment of Life in ET Environments – Engineer organisms with increased tolerance to radiation, temperature and toxins and the potential to use alternative metabolic energy sources (radiation instead of photons/chemical energy)