Fifteen years from now, one out of three NASA employees will be
a biologist, said Dan Goldin, administrator of the National Aeronautical
and Space Administration. His prediction is based on the reality
that aerospace and defense research programs increasingly are turning
to the hard science of biotechnology and the study of nanotechnology
to create a more flexible, technically savvy force.
Goldin spoke during the recent mid-Atlantic technology consortium’s
Tech Trends conference in Atlantic City, N.J.
Biotechnology is the application of biological knowledge and techniques
to produce innovative materials, devices and systems. For example,
NASA is now designing a new generation of spacecraft that will improve
its performance by imitating bird flight. “A wealth of technological
breakthroughs is likely to come from mimicking the interactions
of biological systems and their response to the environment,”
Goldin explained.
NASA is exploring the use of nanotechnology for potentially far-reaching
non-defense applications. A nanometer is a unit of measurement approximately
10-9 microns long. Using nanotechnology, it is possible to stack
molecules tightly to create almost impenetrable, self-repairing,
self-sensing or self-adapting materials. Though NASA is developing
the material for building aircraft, “this will have a huge
impact on many markets,” Goldin said. “We’re not
funding revolutionary advances. We’re funding revolution,”
he said.
The agency has developed a so-called carbon nanotube, a new form
of carbon several microns long. Goldin said that some forms of carbon
nanotubes “appear to possess extraordinary properties.”
The nanotubes, when stacked together, are reported to have the strength
five times that of steel, and “tensile strength approaching
100 gigapascals, over 100 times the strength of steel,” he
said.
NASA’s carbon nanotechnology has led to the development of
a medical application: a nanoelectronic-based biopsy sampler. The
device, developed at NASA Ames in Moffett Field, Calif., in collaboration
with the National Cancer Institute, seeks to perform biopsies on
human tissue, with minimal invasion of the body, that would provide
instantaneous results. Today, biopsies take one to three weeks to
come back from the lab.
The idea that medical advances can be achieved via space programs,
however, is not universally accepted. “I would no more expect
the space program to spin off new medical technology, than to expect
the medical technology community to spin off a space program,”
said John Pike, a defense technology analyst.
James Donahue, chairman of the Tech Trends conference, echoed Goldin’s
enthusiasm for the contributions that biotechnology and nanotechnology
could bring to space and defense programs. Donahue noted that the
traditional boundaries between areas of technology are being blurred,
because some disciplines are multi-dimensional. “Technologies
that have their origins in military applications, such as night-vision
goggles, are now being used by civilians such as firefighters. With
night-vision goggles, firefighters can go into buildings where the
power has been cut and rescue those trapped inside,” he said.
“These technologies are saving lives.”
Donahue also highlighted the expertise of the mid-Atlantic region’s
technology consortium, which is made up of industry, government
and academic professionals. Through government-funded research and
private investment, the consortium is working to apply defense technology
to other fields, such as health care and emergency response.
Private companies and research consortia exhibiting at the Tech
Trends conference touted the dual-use benefits of various products,
for military and civilian use. Ansar Inc., based in Philadelphia,
has developed a heart-rate measuring device small enough to be sewn
into a soldier’s uniform. The device measures vital signs
upon contact with the body. It is equipped with Global Positioning
System (GPS) technology so the soldier can be located more precisely.
The system, called ANS-R1000, was adopted as part of the Army’s
combat casualty-care program. It is non-invasive and monitors the
nervous system so that a remote operator can determine if the soldier
is in distress, or dying, said Nicolas Emper, Ansar’s vice
president. “In wartime, this will help determine whether or
not a person is alive, and how much time you have to get to that
person,” he said. The device classifies the soldier’s
vital signs with the colors of red, yellow and green. “Red
means the person is deceased or will be, yellow is that they are
able to survive if you get to them quickly, and green is that they
are okay or that their wounds are superficial,” Emper said.
ANS-R1000 is being marketed for non-military applications. Firefighters
are already using the device as they enter burning buildings, greatly
improving their chances of survival if they become injured, Emper
said. Emergency-room physicians are using the device to determine
if patients who come into the emergency room are in shock, or if
their symptoms are indicative of a particular problem. According
to emergency physician William C. Shoemaker, “the Ansar heart
rate variability device [is] a very useful way to assess sympathetic
and parasympathetic activities in a wide variety of acute illnesses.”
Another example of nanotechnology applications is a system developed
by the Army Research Lab (ARL), in conjunction with the Army’s
Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center. It is a hand-held sensor
that can detect the presence of biological agents in extremely low
concentrations. Ray Yin, ARL research chemist and lead inventor
of the product, said the detector works by placing three to five
drops of water into a sample well. Within 15 minutes, “like
a pregnancy test, you see lines develop, which may or may not indicate
that biological agents such as anthrax, small pox, plague or botulinum
toxin are present in the water,” he said.
This is the first time nanotechnology has ever been used for chemical
and biological defense applications, Yin said. “The incorporation
of the nanomanipulation concept into the current biological detection
systems has significantly enhanced the detection sensitivity and
reduced the production cost,” he said. The old biological
detection systems employ techniques that are “only capable
of randomly orienting antibodies at different sensing surfaces.”
The system won the Army’s R&D achievement award in 1999.
ARL earned that award in 2000 again for another product. The nanoreactor-based
topical skin protective cream, when applied to a soldier’s
hands and face, is an effective protectant against nerve agents,
particularly sulfur mustard. The cream was developed because, during
the 1991 Gulf War, the “existing chemical protective clothing
was too bulky, unbreathable, and in some circumstances ineffective
against sulfur mustard,” said an ARL official. The cream,
when applied generously, “works for both nerve and blister
agent protection without any toxic or skin-irritation problems.”
Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., a co-host of the conference,
said that new developments in bio- and nanotechology call for more
congressional support for additional research dollars in the federal
budget. “While the president is willing to double the funding
for the National Institutes of Health, we need to do more for the
National Science Foundation, for NASA,” he said.
In the business of war fighting, technology can provide an edge,
said Gen. James Jones, commandant of the Marine Corps, who also
spoke at the conference. “Might and mass are not quite so
important now; speed and agility have become the critical factors.
We can use technology as a force multiplier.”