Gathering agricultural information by remote sensing of Earth’s surface
from aircraft, balloons, and satellites has a potential application in
research and development. Current needs for data gathered in this way
include crop and livestock surveys for marketing planning; soil mapping;
crop disease, insect, and weed surveys; soil conservation management and
research; and crop acreage control programs. As population and world
trade increase, the needs will become even more intense for regularly
scheduled synoptic surveys of the world’s agricultural lands for crop
plantings and harvests; determining the condition of crops as affected
by drought, disease, or insect outbreaks; and studies of the lands
suitable for agricultural development in underdeveloped countries. The
only way that worldwide synoptic surveys can be made is by using
orbiting platforms.
The NASA nutrition program for developing diets for prolonged manned and
animal space flight lends itself to civil defense purposes; military
maneuvers where space and weight are prime considerations; polar and
desert exploration; reducing hunger in underdeveloped countries; and
detecting metabolic diseases as well as diseases of infancy and old age.
For space research such a diet can be used on prolonged manned space
flights, animal experiments in space, manned orbiting laboratories, and
space and planetary stations. Studies on the packaging and stability of
foods under various conditions of humidity, temperature, and radiation
will lead to better processing and storage.
Learning how microbial spores are transported by air is important to
biology, agriculture, and medicine. Besides spreading crop destruction,
microbial spores produce allergic responses in some human beings. To
obtain the facts, not only the biology of micro-organisms but also the
weather factors that induce the flight of mature spores must be known.
Thus, both biological and meteorological problems are involved. Data
obtained under a NASA contract with the General Mills Electronic
Division (now part of Litton Industries, Inc.) indicate that spores of
fungi are present in low numbers in the stratosphere. A reservoir of
spores exists which cannot be brought down by the normal scrubbing
mechanisms of rainfall and other meteorological disturbances in the
troposphere. This finding has important implications for reducing the
spread of agricultural crop diseases and for protecting persons
suffering from allergies. This project has indicated the necessity for
designing novel biological samplers for use in the stratosphere. Such
samplers will aid in determining various pollutants of the atmosphere.
The NASA program for developing sterile spacecraft for the biological
exploration of Mars will contribute improved methods of sterilization
that can be applied to the canning industry. Studies on sterilization at
low temperatures for long periods of time are being supported by NASA at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Communicable Disease
Center and the Sanitary Engineering Center of the Public Health Service.
The developing capability is making possible the heat sterilization of
products that never before could be thoroughly sterilized.
In preparing for missions to search for extraterrestrial life, research
on the psychrophilic or cold bacteria, on halophytic or salt bacteria,
and on specialized bacteria and other organisms growing in extreme
environments is defining the extremes under which life can exist.
Increased knowledge about organisms that can grow in or on refrigerated,
dried, or salted foods and other materials should have practical
applications for food storage and preservation. Research on
psychrophilic bacteria is being conducted by Whirlpool Corp. and the
NASA Ames Research Center.
Theoretical studies of Martian life involve investigations of plant and
bacterial spores. Many of these forms are spoilage organisms and some
produce lethal toxins. This work has potential importance for food
processing and for obtaining more precise knowledge of how wounds become
infected. The program for investigating possible forms of life on Mars
includes a thorough study of anaerobic micro-organisms. This research
has led to the discovery of new types of nitrogen-fixing bacteria other
than the familiar types found in the root nodules of leguminous plants.
Thus, it may be possible to use these microorganisms, or the principles
involved, in the incorporation of vital atmospheric nitrogen into
terrestrial soils which are now unproductive.