Welcome to the Sunday Paper Club. Every Sunday, this blog will offer analysis of a paper on space habitation and other related topics. These are my opinions on a weekly scientific paper; basically I read the paper and write down my thoughts are I read it. They are subject to my perspectives and believes. I am open to debate, so if any reader believes I have misinterpreted something in a paper, please point it out. I'm only a student and I'm still learning how to read these papers and interpret them. All quotes are from the paper unless otherwise noted. All papers I review are available for free online.
This week we are reviewing the paper Applications of Living Systems Theory of Life in Space.
Since some humans will be spending more and more time in space, we need to think of the human factor more then ever. So far, astronauts have been able to endure the stressful environment of space because the astronauts were able to build up enough motivation to cope with the stress. But, as people are subjected to small living spaces and a lack of privacy, they may burnout or snap. As we move farther from Earth, feeling of isolation from humanity will grow.
If we use living systems theory, it could solve the problem that come with the human factor. Living systems theory is the combined study of technology, sociology, biology and ecology. Of course, this brings a problem, the sciences are compartmented. So, we must reinvent our education system to give people a general sense of how their systems effect other factors because we need to study every aspect of space habitation in order for it to work.
Living systems theory is to categorize the subsystems of non-biological systems into twenty categories and identify the amount of inputs for the system to work based on the categorizes of subsystems in biological systems. Once we know this, we can fix dysfunctional systems. The 20 subsystems are: the reproducer, the boundary, the ingestor, the distributor, the converter, the producer, matter-energy storage systems, the extruder, the motor, the supporter, the output transducer, the encoder, the decider, memory, the associator, the decoder, the timer, the channel and net, and the internal transducer.
The study has a very interesting diagram on page 25 of the PDF which maps every part of a moon base to the 20 subsystems. It really shows how complicated even the simplest moon base would be.
Basically, NASA is using living systems theory to make sure every possibility is planned for. If every subsystem is strong, then the whole system could stand up to a lot.
Reactions
- Is it a good idea to low at what we need for space habitation in terms of what our body needs to function?
In Case You Skimmed
-Biological systems have 20 subsystems
-In order for a space habitat to function well, it must replicate biological systems with its own version of the 20 subsystems
