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2025 SURA Workshop: Emerging Research in Space Biology, February, 25-26, 2025
2025 SURA Workshop: Emerging Research in Space Biology
The future of space biology holds immense promise as humanity pushes the boundaries of space exploration, aiming for longer missions, including crewed journeys to Mars and beyond. As we venture further into space, understanding the complexities of multiple areas of space biology is essential. The future of space exploration depends on furthering research on human biology, sustainability, and protection needs. These areas of research are strongly connected to the physics and engineering needed to create the necessary biological life support systems. Beyond sustaining human life in space for exploration, research also needs to focus on space agriculture, resource utilization and availability in space, and the continued search for the possibility of biology outside of earth.
At the same time, the growth in commercial interests in space add more opportunities and challenges for successful research in space. As the priorities for NASA in space biology grow and evolve with focus on sustained life in space, more and more corporate entities are developing their own innovation, manufacturing, and exploration goals in space. This creates potential conflicts in goals between NASA, the research community, and other corporate entities, but it can also provide new unique opportunities for collaboration and funding for the research community to reach their goals in space biology.
Coinciding with this necessary growth in space biology research, the National Academies released the next decadal survey for NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences, Thriving in Space: Ensuring the Future of Biological and Physical Sciences Research Decadal Survey for 2023-2032. This report released recommendations to NASA on the future of research in the BPS Division.
With the release of this report, the growth in commercial space, and the critical need for more research in space biology, this workshop will highlight the upcoming research funding priorities of NASA, cutting-edge research conducted by scientists at SURA institutions, and create opportunities for future collaborations between attendees. Discussions will be focused around different areas of space biology, such as agricultural development, human physiology research, and the future landscape of space biology research in the United States.
Invited Speakers will represent the academic, government, and for-profit industries with expertise in:
- NASA’s Research Priorities
- Effective Public/Private Partnerships
- Plant Biology and Agriculture in Space
- Human Physiology and Medical Research in Space
- Development of Innovative Life Support Systems
This workshop will take place near Kennedy Space Center at the Space Florida office (505 Odyssey Way, Suite 300, Merritt Island, FL 32953)