Bioencapsulation: a biotechnological tool for biological life support for manned missions by the European Space Agency.

Abstract

ESA (European Space Agency) decision in 1987 to acquire the capability needed to support man living and working in space, was the trigger for initiating the development of space life support technologies in Europe. The discipline of life support covers basically all the techniques that ensure the biological autonomy of man when isolated from his original biosphere. Biological life support technologies are presently under development at ESA either for their intrinsic ability to better achieve specific tasks than the currently available physico-chemical processes, or because only they can achieve these tasks. Moreover, a global integration of these biotechnologies leads us to the important notion of closed ecological life support system (CELSS). Indeed, a CELSS is the ultimate form of life support system we currently foresee for long-term space missions (over 2 years). Among those biotechnologies, immobilisation processes such as bioencapsulation are considered as potentially potent tools. They are detailed and presented in their life support context as they are currently standing along with their possible future time course in the ESA life support space program.