Currently, the highest quality tape recorders are subject to imperfect reproduction because the tapes are heat labile; i.e., they soften and stretch when warm. The development of high-quality magnetic tapes for space-data recorders is an outgrowth of the materials developed to meet spacecraft sterilization requirements. These improved tapes will be useful for all types of recording—industry, automation controls, home, and studio.
OUTLOOK FOR BIOSCIENCE—MAJOR PROBLEMS
The problems undertaken are among the most challenging, if not the most challenging, man faces on the space frontier. These include the quest for the origin of life, the explanation of life and life processes, the elucidation of the environment's role in establishing and maintaining normal organization in living organisms, the possibility of extraterrestrial life on other planets—the concern of exobiology. The greatest promise for their solution lies in advances in biological theory rather than other avenues of research; therefore, it is fortunate that the need to solve them has come at a time when developments in experimental biology are at a high level. In addition, technological developments in electronics and engineering are providing new and wonderful instruments for this great exploration into the sources of life. Many of these have had practical application that has made possible important advances in medical diagnosis and treatment.
The broad national space goals initially charted by NASA have gone beyond space flight in near-Earth orbit to lunar and interplanetary exploration by man and machine. For such missions, more intensive and comprehensive research in the life sciences is needed. Before manned voyages for extended periods into deep space will be possible, solutions must be found for problems such as the development of bioregenerative life-support systems, communication with nonhuman species, and the development of new methods for transferring knowledge to the human brain.
The problems are all of the type that could perhaps be solved by truly great advances in biological theory, and probably not by any other avenue.
Notes
| [1] | This section includes part of the Summary of the Panel on Radiation Biology of the Environmental Biology Committee Space Science Board, NAS/NRC (1963), and results of research by the Bioscience Programs, NASA. |
| [2] | Excerpt from [ref.130]. |
| [3] | From [ref.169]. |
| [4] | From [ref.174]. |
| [5] | From [ref.175]. |
| [6] | From [ref.176]. |
| [7] | Includes instrumentation and food storage. |
| [8] | Trace amounts of the following were also found: methionine sulfoxide, citrulline, alpha-amino-n-butyric acid, homocitrulline, glucosamine, galactosamine, methionine sulfoximine, ethionine, and ethanolamine. |
| [9] | Includes part of [ref.196]. |
| [10] | Includes part of [ref.201]. See also [ref.202]. |
[References]
| [ref.1] | Rea, D. G.: The Evidence for Life on Mars. Nature, vol. 200, 1963, p. 114. |
| [ref.2] | ([1], [2]) Öpik, E. J.: Spectroscopic Evidence of Vegetation on Mars. Irish Astron. J., vol. 5, 1958, pp. 12-13. |