Mini-ecosystems used in spaceflight research and education

Robert Frye Arizona Daily Wildcat

"Even though a lot of different living things have been sent into space, this is the first integrated ecosystem," said Robert Frye, a research scientist for the University of Arizona environmental research laboratory.

The miniature recycling environments, called Autonomous Biological Systems, house aquatic plants and animals in two cylinders of water with an attached fluorescent light.

Frye said the light causes the plants to undergo photosynthesis. This process puts oxygen in the air and consumes carbon dioxide. The organisms in the cylinders eat the plants and then are eaten by other organisms.

"You end up with a food pyramid," Frye said. "It takes a long time."

He said the preliminary analysis of the data collected from the ecosystems during flight has been compared to the experiment's control units on Earth.

"It showed the flight units seemed to be more productive," Frye said.

Jane Poynter, chief executive officer of Paragon Space Development Corp., said NASA came to Paragon after hearing about their commercial biosphere units.

"They saw some great possibilities for use under micro-gravity (near-zero gravity) conditions," Poynter said.

The experiment was further developed by UA researchers, led by Frye, and a team of Japanese researchers led by Yoji Ishikawa of Obayashi Corp. in Tokyo.

Not only did the ecosystems survive the first flight, but most of the species actually bred in space and returned with higher population counts than the ground control units, Poynter said in a news release.

The two miniature units, designed by former Biosphere 2 crew members, will now undergo comprehensive tests on the effects of prolonged space flight.

Poynter said the two miniature ecosystems spent two weeks last spring on the space shuttle Endeavour, followed by a more extensive mission orbiting Earth on Mir.

Paragon is selling commercial replicas of its ABS flight units. The aquatic populations are direct descendants of the animals born in space on the first flight in May 1996, Poynter said.

Taber MacCallum, Paragon's president, added that the results of the missions on Endeavour and Mir will have applications for pharmaceutical research and long-term human spaceflight.

Paragon, which Poynter and MacCallum founded after completing their two-year mission inside Biosphere 2 in 1993, began marketing miniature biospheres in 1995.

"It was a great way to fund our research," Poynter added.

The price of the full-scale, limited-production ecosystems will be $500. The units will each come with a certificate of authenticity stating the date of closure and source of the animals, and an owner's manual complete with detailed explanations of the e xperiment.

Poynter said schools interested in the commercial replicas are being given a teacher's guide which includes suggestions on how to use the units in the classroom.

Suggestions are given to teach students observation skills, she said.

Cheryl Riggs, Paragon's marketing director, said in a news release the replicas will allow children to learn about the scientific process, Earth's biosphere and space experimentation in a fun and relevant way.