[Engineering issues of microbial ecology in space agriculture].
[Engineering issues of microbial ecology in space agriculture].
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太空农业中微生物生态学的工程问题[J].
DOI：
10.2187/bss.19.25
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发表时间：
2005
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
T. Oshima
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Yamashita;Y. Ishikawa;T. Oshima
关闭水-食物-氧气的物质循环循环是在火星和月球上进行太空农业的主要目的。微生物生态系统是农业的一部分，它处理我们的代谢排泄物和不可食用的生物量，并将它们转化为种植植物的养分和土壤基质。如果我们把太空农业的目的扩展到创造和控制一个健康宜人的生活环境，我们应该认识到，我们的人体不应该被消毒，而应该暴露在适当的微生物环境中。我们建议在太空农业中使用超嗜热好氧堆肥微生物生态。日本在这个问题上有着广泛的历史和文化背景。农业在消费城市和附近的农业村庄之间形成了一个封闭的物质循环。最近城镇垃圾收集和处理方面的环境问题促使家用电子公司创新采用细菌技术的“垃圾堆肥”机器。基于这些成熟的技术，结合对微生物学和微生物生态学的新见解，我们正在开发月球和火星太空农业的概念设计。为了证明在太空中使用微生物系统的有效性，有几个问题需要回答。1)经过超热好氧堆肥微生物生态处理的循环养分能否形成植物可以吸收的理化状态或形态？从肥料循环循环中去除任何主要成分的可能性是另一个需要评估的项目。2)围绕植物根系形成土壤微生物生态的优点是什么？这可能是最关键的问题。近年来的研究揭示了土壤微生物群与植物之间的各种互利关系，以及堆肥细菌的共生生态。了解这些特征，并确定如何进行预防性维护以保持土壤健康和生产力是至关重要的。3)微生物生态学是否有助于利用现场地外资源建设可持续和可扩展的人类居住地？我们正在评估将风化土转化为农业土壤和空间农业结构材料的技术可行性。在火星居住的情况下，大气中的二氧化碳和微量氮，矿物中的钾和磷是我们考虑的来源。多余的氧气可以通过树木的种植和木材的使用来积累。4)如果采用超嗜热好氧微生物生态，太空农业的运行是否稳健安全？任何生态系统都是复杂的、非线性的，在其响应中表现出延迟和记忆效应。了解这些特征对于设计和操作太空农业而不陷入致命失败非常重要。应对微生物安全性进行评估，并制定预防措施，以消除可能阻碍农业生产或危害健康环境的不利因素。值得一提的是，这种空间农业将成为解决全球能源和环境问题的有效工程试验台。火星和月球探索本身就是我们人类可持续文明所表达的健康好奇心的良好倡导者。我们提议共同致力于火星和月球的微生物生态，以确保在那里舒适的居住。
Closure of the materials recycle loop for water-foods-oxygen is the primary purpose of space agriculture on Mars and Moon. A microbial ecological system takes a part of agriculture to process our metabolic excreta and inedible biomass and convert them to nutrients and soil substrate for cultivating plants. If we extend the purpose of space agriculture to the creation and control of a healthy and pleasant living environment, we should realize that our human body should not be sterilized but exposed to the appropriate microbial environment. We are proposing a use of hyper-thermophilic aerobic composting microbial ecology in space agriculture. Japan has a broad historical and cultural background on this subject. There had been agriculture that drove a closed loop of materials between consuming cities and farming villages in vicinity. Recent environmental problems regarding garbage collection and processing in towns have motivated home electronics companies to innovate "garbage composting" machines with bacterial technology. Based on those matured technology, together with new insights on microbiology and microbial ecology, we have been developing a conceptual design of space agriculture on Moon and Mars. There are several issues to be answered in order to prove effectiveness of the use of microbial systems in space. 1) Can the recycled nutrients, processed by the hyper-thermal aerobic composting microbial ecology, be formed in the physical and chemical state or configuration, with which plants can uptake those nutrients? A possibility of removing any major components of fertilizer from its recycle loop is another item to be evaluated. 2) What are the merits of forming soil microbial ecology around the root system of plants? This might be the most crucial question. Recent researches exhibit various mutually beneficial relationships among soil microbiota and plants, and symbiotic ecology in composting bacteria. It is essential to understand those features, and define how to conduct preventive maintenance for keeping cultivating soil healthy and productive. 3) Does microbial ecology contribute to building sustainable and expandable human habitation by utilizing the on site extraterrestrial resources? We are assessing technical feasibility of converting regolith to farming soil and structural materials for space agriculture. In the case of Mars habitation, carbon dioxide and a trace amount of nitrogen in atmosphere, and potassium and phosphor in minerals are the sources we consider. Excess oxygen can be accumulated by woods cultivation and their use for lumber. 4) Is the operation of space agriculture robust and safe, if it adopts hyper-thermophilic aerobic microbial ecology? Any ecological system is complex and non-linear, and shows latency and memory effects in its response. It is highly important to understand those features to design and operate space agriculture without falling into the fatal failure. Assessment should be made on the microbial safety and preparation of the preventive measures to eliminate negative elements that would either retard agricultural production or harm the healthy environment. It is worth to mention that such space agriculture would be an effective engineering testbed to solve the global problem on energy and environment. Mars and Moon exploration itself is a good advocate of healthy curiosity expressed by the sustainable civilization of our humankind. We propose to work together towards Mars and Moon with microbial ecology to assure pleasant habitation there.