Biosatellites, 1974-1982

In 1974, Moscow’s Institute of Biomedical Problems (MIBP) demonstrated a rare show of Soviet initiative in cooperation, inviting NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC) scientists to fly experiments on their 1975 Cosmos Biosatellite 782. Over the next several years, the Soviet Academy of Sciences launched these satellites at roughly two-year intervals, leading to a total of nine satellites carrying over one hundred US-led investigations into the effects of the space environment on biol­ogy and medicine. Principle investigators represented a number of research institu­tions and space programs from the United States, and East and West Europe.

In the interest of streamlining red tape and simplifying technological inter­faces, US and Soviet space program officials maintained their policy regarding one another’s hardware. This meant that American experiments operated on independent platforms. Sticking to the doctrine of clean interfaces, neither elec­tricity nor data-recording were supplied by Soviet hardware.

Additionally, the two parties exchanged no funds through the course of experimentation: the MIBP would fund and command all activities associated with launch and reentry whereas the Americans would pay for all hardware and development costs for their biomedical experiments. These conditions changed in 1992-1993 following the organization of a Russian civil space program when Moscow asked NASA to cover half the expenses of launch—roughly $16 million (see chapter 8).

The Soviet Union began launching these satellites in 1973, identifying them by either their Cosmos nomenclature or their Bion number as laid out in table 7.2 . Bion (a contraction of Biological Photon) satellite payloads were designed by the MIBP and carried an estimated design life of approximately 30 days in orbit. Being recoverable spacecraft, the Bions were a derivative of the Zenit reconnaissance satellite (used since 1961) and before that, the Vostok recoverable spacecraft (in use since 1960).

The Intercosmos space council invited participation of East European scien­tists from the beginning, but until November 1974 had not included the United States. At the fifth meeting of the Soviet-American Joint Working Group on Biomedicine, representatives of Moscow’s Institute for Biomedical Problems shocked Ames researchers by inviting experiments from the United States. Following procedures drafted in the 1971 Agreement on Space Sciences and Applications (which was renewed in 1974 and 1977), Ames Research Center functioned as the manager of American participation.

Until the Cosmos 782 mission, cooperation between the two had been lim­ited to sharing data, joint conferences, and publications. After Cosmos 782 landed in December 1975, it supplied data and specimens to researchers in Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the United States, and the Soviet Union.78 In 1977 Cosmos 936 carried an impressive array of instruments sent from two more nations: Bulgaria and the German Democratic Republic.

Kristen Edwards points out that the Soviet Academy of Science’s offer came at a fortuitous time for American biomedical researchers, in light of the fact that in 1969 NASA cancelled all biosatellite research.79 Following the disappoint­ment of an aborted program on Skylab, NASA bioscientists would otherwise have had to wait until the Shuttle was operational for space access.

Joint work on biosatellites stipulated that Americans design and build their instruments within the predesignated specifications of the Cosmos biosatellite, ship all materials, and when necessary train their Soviet counterparts in the use of such devices.80 Edwards explains that the first invitation for US proposals placed NASA scientists on a tight schedule: experiment descriptions due to the USSR by December 1974, experiment hardware due by August 1975. In the

meantime, NASA life scientists engineered and constructed experiment hard­ware. Edwards points out that these machines were passive specimen modules fitted within containers measuring half a cubic foot. These “passive” modules functioned autonomously from the Soviet spacecraft, neither drawing electrical current nor making use of the Soviet data recording systems. Circumventing Soviet hardware and personnel hinged on matters of security and the fact that communications regarding Bion “were not always sufficiently open due to security concerns in both countries.” Perhaps most important, the use of passive experiment modules eased anxieties regarding technology transfer—for Soviets and Americans alike.81

After payload elements were developed and tested, Soviet engineers took responsibility for system integration and testing of the overall spacecraft. As of 1992 (and likely before) persons in the USSR took charge of all animal training and biocompatibility testing. Soviet mission personnel took complete charge of launch activities. Following reentry, they coordinated the post-flight proce­dures between recovery sites and mission headquarters in Moscow.82 Only when specimens were back in Moscow did NASA’s ARC personnel take over their experiments.