by Tom Robbins

Created on: December 13, 2007

So much of the most advanced technology that we take for granted has been spun off from space agencies like NASA. Transistors, the basis of all computers and pretty much everything else electronic, are just one example.

Space agencies like NASA spend a large proportion of their budgets on research rather than on space flight. They need to, space is a demanding place.

Ultimately most of the advances which have come from space research are ways to do more with less. In space you must bring with you anything that you're going to need, and every bit of weight you carry with you adds to the cost of a space mission. Space research is teaching us to do more with less.

We have two environmental problems on the Earth today, and they are inexorably linked. They are pollution, the waste we kick out, and resource depletion, the sheer amount of raw material we consume. Neither is catastrophic, yet, but within the next century we will start to feel the strain.

The link between them is obvious when you think about it: the more resources you consume the more waste you produce. The technology we've developed for space lets us do more work with less resources, so already it's bringing us some environmental benefits. As we continue to refine that technology, hopefully we'll be able to do even more with less resources and less waste.

This is just the beginning though. So many areas of research are driving forward to make our technology more efficient. Space is just a good motivator and testing ground.

Efficiency will only get you so far however. If we can make our society and our technology efficient enough we can stop causing damage to our environment. It doesn't cure the damage that's already been done.

One of the most exciting and challenging areas of space research at the moment is life support. For short missions, like the Apollo missions, and near-Earth missions like the International Space Station and shuttles, life support is easy: you just ship up oxygen, food and water, and ship back down all the waste. For longer missions, like the proposed mission to Mars, you can't do that.

The solution is to build a closed environment, complete with plants, soil and animals. In an environment like that you grow your own food, the plants convert waste back to oxygen and nutrients, and you need never (in theory) send off to Earth for raw materials.

This research is already giving us a better understanding of how the Earth's environment works. Once we understand that better we can start undoing some of the damage that's already happened.

I think space technology spin-offs will help with our environmental problems: in may ways they already are.

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