Leaked White Paper Condemns NASA Life Sciences

WayneConrad writes "SpaceRef has a summary of a leaked Johnson Space Center white paper (pdf) that severely criticizes NASA's Life Science program. According to the paper, science is being done without proper controls, with too-small sample groups, and is often not relevant to the ISS's stated bioscience mission (to develop countermeasures against the deleterious effects of microgravity). The paper states,'NASA's founding fathers would turn in their proverbial graves at the sight of such a convoluted organization' and 'Voodoo science is not worth the cost. The limb of the fault tree Life Sciences is perched upon is perilously close to breaking.'"

Comments

Re:Effects of microgravity

[WayneConrad]

What do they need to research?

The effects of microgravity include:

• Increased heart rate, narrowed pulse pressure, reduced plasma volume, decreased heart chamber volume and facial edema
• Loss of bone mass
• Decreased muscle strength and endurance, muscle atrophy, and delayed muscle repair
• Loss of red blood cell mass, loss of hemoglobin mass, and loss of plasma volume
• Transient reduction in white blood cells
• Behavioral and psychological problems (it's not easy living in a can).
• Motion sickness

These will all need to be solved for any long missions like a trip to Mars using chemical propulsion; that's what I thought the stated goal of ISS Life Sciences is.

(More info here)

No, the solution is to break out of the box

[Tau Zero]

There is an easy solution to that: don't send humans into space for the time being.

I would revise that to, "Do not send humans into space to stay on the ISS". This amounts to the same thing in the short term, because replacing the ISS with a station which has artificial gravity will take time.

Eventually, we can build spacecraft that are large enough to generate "artificial gravity" by rotation.

"Eventually"? If I'm not mistaken, a Gemini capsule performed a rendezvous with an Agena rocket, pulled a tether out from it and spun the pair up to provide artificial gravity. This was something like FORTY YEARS AGO.

The Livermore "community space suit" station was designed as an alterative to this (more usable volume AND artificial gravity), and it would have launched in ONE shot of a Titan. Rather than adopt it as a way to get the job done cheaper, the various functionaries on the gravy train quashed it rather than spoil the tens of years and billions of dollars of contracts for the non-gravity-capable ISS. This speaks volumes.

Until then, robots and teleoperators are far cheaper and more effective for space exploration and scientific missions into space.

They're usually far cheaper... for the things they can do. But when you compare even the most sophisticated surface rovers with the capabilities of a human with a rock hammer, it's obvious that really serious investigations are going to require people on the scene. It's the avowed goal of these "life sciences" investigations to get us there, and we should insist that the boondoggles and pork-barrelling be put behind that rather than ahead.