The NASA Life Sciences Generations Initiative: Summary

Background

Space impacts life in a profoundly different way than life has experienced during its evolution on Earth. The microgravity of the space environment offers a major reduction in one of the fundamental organizing forces of nature. As scientists have learned from the study of extreme environments on Earth, novel environments reveal novel biologies. These discoveries are important not only to science, but may benefit both medicine and commerce.

Many environmental forces changed over the past 4 billion years in shaping life on Earth including magnetic fields and radiation -- but gravity has remained constant. In space, the gravitational forces acting on an organism can be a million times lower than any organism has experienced throughout EarthÕs history. The last time life encountered an environmental change of this magnitude was when the first organisms emerged from the sea to the land.

Generations offers an unprecedented opportunity to scientifically document one of the greatest evolutionary transitions of all time with all the tools of modern science. Generations proposes to correlate changes in genes and genetic expression in space with physiological causes and consequences in simple living systems over multiple life cycles. This use of space as a powerful biological probe will develop scientific knowledge important not only for space exploration but for life on Earth.

Cutting Edge Biotechnology Research on Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Orbital Spacecraft

The Generations Initiative will harness the ongoing revolutions in biotechnology, information technology, and microminiaturization to explore the only life that we know in its first generations beyond our planet of origin.

The goal of the Generations Initiative is to establish carefully prioritized research investigating the potential for life to transition permanently into space to expand scientific knowledge of life, promote space exploration, and benefit life on Earth.

The still advancing revolution in biotechnology will enable scientists to study life in space with unprecedented scope, sensitivity and precision. Its application accelerates return on the public's investments in NASA by amplifying the value of space biology payloads far beyond what was possible even five years ago.

When used in space, these new technologies allow us to reveal features of terrestrial life that literally cannot be seen on Earth because the planet's gravity masks them. As new biological features are revealed, new opportunities for medical and commercial advances are opened. An expected outcome is significant advances in pharmacology, immunology, and the treatment of diseases.

Research will begin in low Earth orbit on the Space Shuttle, on the International Space Station, and on orbital free-flying spacecraft to achieve the critical quantity and quality of information. By the end of the decade, Generations will initiate biological explorations in deep space as a prelude to future human expeditions.

Through Generations, scientists will examine the organisms most widely used in biotechnology over complete life cycles in space. In the process, the important relationships between medical problems of space flight and problems of aging on Earth will be fully characterized. Generations will also explore biological responses to unique features of the space environment. These results are expected to offer strategies for use on Earth to combat infections, develop vaccines, improve tissue engineering, and reduce polluting waste products from plant-based processes.

Generations begins the most comprehensive investigation of life in space ever undertaken. Read More.