In Washington, D.C., maybe it’s the recent talk of the end of the world as we know it, but NASA is working on figuring out how humans can live elsewhere in our solar system. NASA’s new $15 million investment in each of two new Space Technology Research Institutes, signals they are looking for ways to sustain humans in space.
The two STRIs will be hosted by U.S. universities and will focus on innovative biomaterials and biomanufacturing technologies that will change how we live in outer space. One STRI, the Center for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space, will focus on adding microbes to food to improve fuel, materials and pharmaceuticals, so that humans can survive better in space. The Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design will focus on lightweight yet super strong aerospace materials.