NASA awards $2.5 million to establish local consortium for space biology research

NASA has awarded $2.5 million to launch a new scientific consortium based at the University of Washington (UW), aimed at exploring how space environments impact living organisms.

The BioS-ENDURES Consortium, short for Biology in Space: Establishing Networks for Durable & Resilient Systems, brings together researchers from UW, Washington State University (WSU), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

This team will work to deepen understanding of biological interactions in space — knowledge crucial for sustaining human life on long-term space missions.

Under the leadership of Kristi Morgansen, professor and chair of aeronautics and astronautics at UW, BioS-ENDURES aims to enhance the scientific understanding and technology needed for human-plant-microbiome interactions in space environments.

“We’ve long recognized that successful long-term space presence requires more than just rockets and spacecraft — it demands a deep understanding of the complex interactions between humans, plants and microorganisms in space environments,” Morgansen said.

She highlighted that the consortium unites experts from three institutions to develop ways to monitor and predict these biological interactions.

BioS-ENDURES has identified three focus areas critical for establishing durable human space habitats:

• Monitoring: Creating tools to track biomarkers in humans, animals, plants, and associated microbes.
• Modeling: Developing models to predict the resilience and interaction of organisms in space.
• Application: Applying this knowledge to foster beneficial human-plant-microbe relationships to improve health in space.

The team, which includes biologists, microbiologists, and other specialists, will collaborate to develop an integrated perspective on the space biosphere.

UW researchers bring a wide array of expertise, including microbiology, environmental and forest sciences, pharmaceutics, genome sciences, and oceanography.

These experts will work together to refine data collection, modeling, and testing methods.

Over the next five years, $2.5 million will be allocated to yearly demonstration projects, symposia tracks, and physical testing, supporting BioS-ENDURES in its efforts to address NASA’s current and future needs.

The consortium will work with industry and scientific advisory boards, aligning their research with the mission to enable a sustainable human presence beyond Earth.

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