Introduction. An Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for spacecraft satisfies the physiological needs of the crew by revitalizing the atmosphere, maintaining temperature and humidity, providing food and water, and removing wastes. As we travel further beyond low Earth orbit, the increased cost of resupply and resource constraints (e.g., volume, power, and crew time) will necessitate life support systems with higher efficiency, autonomy, and mass closure than the physicochemical (PC) systems in use today 1, 2. NASA's technology roadmap states that self-sufficient life support systems are crucial for sustaining life on longduration missions 3. Several NASA needs assessments identify closed regenerative life support as an enabling technology for long-term sustained human exploration, including the Lunar Human Exploration Strategic Knowledge Gap (SKG III-J-3), Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space Studies (DSBPS TSES6 and P3), NASA 2020 Technology Taxonomy (TX06.3.5), and Global Exploration Roadmap. Just as on Earth, living organisms can provide multiple life support functions in space, by recycling waste products to generate O 2 , water, and food. Living systems can reproduce and selfrepair, allowing continuous functioning. Organisms, especially plants, also have a positive psychological impact on crew 4. Space agencies have researched the use of plants for life support and supplemental food production for decades, making bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS) one of the most enduring themes for space life science research 5-16. BLSS development, closure, and capacity must evolve with exploration mission duration, distance, and complexity, with a phased approach. Near-term missions will demonstrate key concepts and validate components in the space environment while ground analogs test integrated technologies. BLSS components can eventually integrate with more permanent habitation systems 17, 2. Efficient and reliable space life support will require integration of biological and PC components into an engineered ecosystem that sustains the crew and itself. This paper discusses and recommends critical areas of research and development at organismal, system, and technology levels to realize space-viable biological systems for space life support. I. Organism-Focused Questions Organism-focused questions have received the most attention in US BLSS research in recent decades. However, important questions remain regarding integration of both plants and microbial decomposers into BLSS design. The space environment differs from the terrestrial one, with fractional gravity or microgravity, reduced atmospheric pressure, elevated radiation, and biological isolation. How various plant and microbial taxa respond to these changes, and which taxa can thrive under such conditions, are major questions.

Biodesign can be explained as a method that includes various researches and applications related to taking inspiration from natural functions, systems, components, or processes in solving a problem. Accordingly, biodesign is commonly used in the design of artificial devices, structures, and buildings in the field of bioengineering. The recent developments in the field of biotechnology and bioengineering bring out various products that are designed in collaboration with different engineering disciplines. In this chapter, the possible use of bacteria, microalgae, and fungi for biomimetic design and the role of biomimicry for these designs will be briefly discussed.

This introductory chapter contains a short discussion of the topic of biomimetics with special emphasis on background and goals together with an overview of the book. Biomimetics is described as information transfer from biology to the engineering sciences. Methods and preconditions for this interdisciplinary scientific subject are mentioned briefly focusing on the educational issues and the pathway to product development. To provide the reader with a preliminary information, an overview of the book is given devoted to a brief description of the remaining chapters which are allocated to three main sections “Material & Structure”, “Form & Construction”, and “Information & Dynamics”. The process of evolution on earth during the last approximately 3.4 billion years resulted in a vast variety of living structures. Most recent findings suggest that multicellular organisms could have been around for 2.1 billion years [1, 2]. At any time, organisms were able to adapt dynamically to various...

Design strategies play a crucial role in minimizing environmental impact. It is essential to move away from the linear economy and towards a circular economy that promotes sustainable development. By incorporating sustainable design principles, producing environmentally friendly technologies, and encouraging repair and upgrades over replacement, companies can reduce waste, conserve natural resources, and minimize environmental impact. It is vital to educate consumers about the importance of sustainable design and make sustainable products accessible and convenient. My design strategy is based on three main principles: easy maintenance and repairs, products that age with dignity, and products that can be customized by the user. By incorporating these principles into our products, we can create sustainable, long-lasting products that benefit both the consumer and the environment. I believe that by embracing circular economies and sustainable design principles, we can create a better world for ourselves and future generations Designing and developing prototypes for a circular economy is an important project to ensure the sustainability of products. The goal of this project was to create products that are easy to maintain and repair, ‘age with dignity’, as well as customizable by the user. To achieve these goals I conducted research on current design trends in sustainable product development and experimented with various materials that could be used in creating prototypes. The project aims to design and manufacture a series of small electronic devices (Ecodevices) that can be repaired, recycled or reused. The structure can be made of cardboard and finished with leather remnants and non-synthetic fabrics. Leather remnants are usually scraps of leather left over from other projects, and non-synthetic fabrics can include cotton, linen, or felt. Leather scraps can be used to provide a decorative and aesthetically pleasing finish, as well as providing a strong, durable outer covering for the structure. When designing electronics for devices, it is important to consider the principles of modularity, easy disassembly, repair and upgrade. Modularity allows components to be easily swapped and replaced, while ease of disassembly allows components to be easily taken apart and reassembled. Component repair and upgrade allows existing components to be reused, saving both time and money. In addition, disassembling, repairing and upgrading electronics allows for more efficient recycling and reuse of components. ----------- Ecodevices (Eco is an abbreviation for ecology) Ecodevices are small electronic devices designed to be repaired, recycled or reused. Electronic device means any device capable of transmitting and/or recording data or audio. This range of products can include sensors, home automation control units, radios, RFID readers, speakers, MP3 players, table clocks.

As renewed interest in human space-exploration intensifies, a coherent and modernized strategy for mission-design and planning has become increasingly crucial. Biotechnology has emerged as a promising approach to increase mission resilience, flexibility, and efficiency by virtue of its ability to efficiently utilize in situ resources and reclaim resources from waste streams. Since its infancy during the Apollo years, biotechnology, and specifically biomanufacturing, have witnessed significant expansions of scope and scale. Here we outline four primary mission classes, on Luna and Mars, that drive a staged and accretive biomanufacturing strategy. Each class requires a unique approach to integrate biomanufacturing into the existing mission architecture and so faces unique challenges in technology development.These challenges stem directly from the resources available in a given mission class – the degree to which feedstocks are derived from cargo and in situ resources – and the degree...