Press Release

NASA Selects Research Proposals in Advanced Human Support Technologies

By SpaceRef Editor
October 22, 2001
Filed under ,

NASA has selected 10 researchers to receive grants to develop
advanced technologies needed to produce food, recycle water and air,
and monitor spacecraft environments required for long-term human
space exploration.

The grants, totaling approximately $5.4 million over three years,
will create a vital knowledge base in these important areas.

NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research funds multi-
disciplinary research that uses the space environment to address
fundamental scientific questions and helps prepare for further human
exploration of space. These grants will lead to technologies that can
be used in low Earth orbit, on the International Space Station and
for future human exploration of the solar system.

Four of the grants are for new technologies in advanced environmental
monitoring of spacecraft habitats, one proposal addresses water
processing technology, and the five others address plant growth in
space.

NASA received 50 proposals in response to its research announcement
in this research area. These proposals were all peer-reviewed by
scientific and technical experts from academia, government, and
industry.

List of Selectees (By State):

California

Martin G. Buehler

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Wastewater Reclamation Electrochemical Sensor Technology (WREST)

Illinois

Richard M. Lueptow

Northwestern University

Advancing Rotating Membrane Water Purification for Human Life Support in Space

Indiana

Cary A. Mitchell

Purdue University

Intracanopy Lighting of Planophile ALS Crop Species with Select-Bandwidth Radiation for Energy and Mass Conservation in Regenerative
Life-Support Systems

Massachusetts

Pamela J. Weathers

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Providing Efficient Rootzone Aeration for Plants Cultured in Low Gravity

North Carolina

Chang-Soo Kim

North Carolina State University

Development of a Self-Calibrating Dissolved Oxygen Microsensor Array for the Monitoring and Control of Plant Growth in a Space
Environment

New York

Louis D. Albright

Cornell University

Advancing the Readiness of Cabbage, Spinach and Lettuce for Fresh Salad Use in Long Duration Spaceflight Missions

Ohio

Gary W. Hunter

NASA Glenn Research Center

Microsystems-Based Hydrazine Detection System for International Space Station and EVA Applications

Tennessee

Gary S. Sayler

University of Tennessee – Knoxville

Bioluminescent Monitoring of Opportunistic Pathogens in the Spacecraft Environment

Texas

Susan L. Steinberg

NASA Johnson Space Center

Flow and Distribution of Fluid Phases through Porous Plant Growth Media in Microgravity

Utah

Bruce G. Bugbee

Utah State University

Ethylene Synthesis and Sensitivity in Salad Crops: Interactions with Root and Shoot Environmental Stress in Microgravity Conditions

SpaceRef staff editor.