Purdue News

October 4, 1990 Purdue Receives $5 Million Grant From NASA West Lafayette, Ind. – Purdue University researchers have received a $5 million grant from NASA to study sustaining human life in outer space. The grant will support research to build a sustainable bio-regenerative system, says Cary Mitchell, Purdue professor of plant physiology and director of the research. The system ultimately will exist inside a closed environment in which all life forms support each other. "Everything will feed off of everything else," says Mitchell, whose research has been leading up to this project for the past 10 years. If successful, Mitchell says the bio-regenerative system could be used to support the lives of astronauts on the moon by the year 2010 and on Mars by 2020. The center initially will focus on three crops that will comprise the astronauts' vegetarian diet. Cowpeas, a relative of black-eyed peas; brassica, a mustard-like plant, and two strains of rice are being studied. As well as providing food, Mitchell says the hydroponically, or water-grown crops, will provide the environment's only source of oxygen. The plants' growing speed and efficiency will be manipulated by the researchers to maximize their food and oxygen production. Mitchell says recycling is key to the system's success. The non-edible parts of each plant will be studied for alternate uses. Waste of all kinds will be used so that nothing leaves the environment. "Purdue was chosen to receive the grant because the university's application was balanced, and addressed questions that were required to begin the research," Mitchell says. "Also, the Purdue center will have outstanding student and post-doctoral training." Eight Purdue researchers will join Mitchell in sharing the $5 million grant during a five year period: * Suzanne Neilsen, associate professor of food science, will analyze the chemical makeup of the crops; * Phil Nelson, head of the food science department, will process the vegetables into unconventional food stuffs for the astronauts' meals; * Jean Howe, adjunct professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition and employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will determine the affects of the food stuffs on rats; * Louis Sherman, associate director of the center and head of Purdue's biological sciences department, will study the molecular biology of photosynthesis of blue-green algae; * George Tsao, head of the laboratory of renewal resources engineering, will oversee the system's integration; * Michael Ladisch, professor of food and agricultural engineering, will study the processing and recycling of plant and animal waste; * Thomas Hodges, professor of botany, will study the genetic engineering of rice plants and improve the quality of their protein; and * Paul Hasegawa, professor of horticulture, will study the genetic engineering of cowpea plants and improve the quality of their protein.   Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu