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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Carbon and Oxygen Budgets of Hypersaline Cyanobacterial Mats: Effects of Tidal Cycle and Temperature

The hierarchical organization of microbial ecosystems determines the rates of processes that shape Earth#s environment, define the stage upon which major evolutionary events occurred, and create biosignatures in sediments and atmospheres. In cyanobacterial mats, oxygenic photosynthesis provides energy, organic substrates and oxygen to the ecosystem. Incident light changes with depth in the mat, both in intensity and spectral composition, and counteracting gradients of oxygen and sulfide shape the chemical microenvironment. A combination of benefits and hazards of light, oxygen and sulfide promotes the allocation of the various essential mat processes between light and dark periods and to various depths in the mat. Microbiota produce hydrogen, small organic acids, and nitrogen and sulfur species. Such compounds fuel a flow of energy and electrons in these ecosystems and thus shape interactions between groups of microorganisms. Coordinated observations of population distribution, abundance, and activity for an entire community are making fundamental questions in ecology accessible. These questions address those factors that sustain the remarkable diversity of microorganisms that are now being revealed by molecular techniques. These questions also target the processes that shape the various kinds of biosignatures that we will seek, both in ancient rocks from Earth and Mars, and in atmospheres of distant planets beyond our Solar System.

David J Des Marais↗
DOE OSTI2026

CHESS 2025: Spectrometer orthorectified at-sensor radiance from NEON AOP imaging spectroscopy surveys

This dataset provides Level 1 (L1) orthorectified at-sensor radiance derived from measurements collected by the Imaging Spectrometer-1 (NIS-1) onboard the NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network) Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) for the 2025 Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study (CHESS). NIS-1 captures light reflected from the Earth’s surface in 426 discrete wavelength bands as raw digital numbers (DNs; Level 0). These data are then calibrated to physical units (uW/cm²·sr·nm) following the processing steps described in the NEON Imaging Spectrometer Level 1B Calibrated Radiance Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD; Gallery 2022). The data delivered here are the primary inputs for the surface reflectance product in “Custom surface reflectance, shade masks, and equivalent water thickness maps for the Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study” (Carroll et al. 2026). For intertemporal comparison, the radiance data here are most directly relatable to the v2 radiance data in “NEON AOP Imaging Spectroscopy Survey of Upper East River Colorado Watersheds: Raw-Space Radiance and Observational Variable Dataset” (Goulden et al. 2018), to which the same processing methodology was applied. Together, the radiance and reflectance data enable users to exploit the unique reflection signatures of different surface objects for land cover classification, foliar trait mapping, plant vigor assessment, water content estimation, trace-element identification, and other scientific applications. The data were acquired over three study domains in the Upper Gunnison river basin: the upper East River watershed (CRBU); Almont Triangle and Taylor Canyon (ALMO); and Upper Taylor River watershed (UPTA) between 2025-06-13 and 2025-07-15. Within each domain, data are delivered by flightline as orthorectified and calibrated hyperspectral rasters in Hierarchical Data Format version 5 (HDF5) format, with radiance values provided in uW/cm²·sr·nm on a fixed, uniform Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid at 1 meter spatial resolution. The radiance rasters include all 426 NIS-1 spectral bands, along with associated quality-assurance (QA) and diagnostic and ancillary layers needed for atmospheric correction workflows. Orthorectified radiance is produced from pushbroom spectrometer observations by applying NEON’s radiometric calibration (including bad pixel masking, dark subtract, dark pedestal shift correction, electronic panel ghost correction, grating ghost correction, deblur correction and flat-fielding) and spectral calibration (using spectral response function band centers and full-width at half-maximum intensity), followed by geolocation and regridding to the fixed grid. CHESS Project Description: The Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study (CHESS) comprised a multi-week airborne remote sensing and field observation campaign in the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado, conducted in June and July of 2025. Airborne remote sensing was conducted by the National Ecological Observatory Network Airborne Observation Platform (NEON AOP), concurrent with a field campaign run by the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Watershed Function Science Focus Area (SFA), and NASA-JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) program. Between June 10 and July 18, 2025, the NEON AOP flight team collected high-resolution aerial imaging spectroscopy and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data over three domains: the Upper East River (CRBU), Almont Triangle (ALMO), and the Upper Taylor Basin (UPTA). In coordination with the flights, a field campaign acquired ground-truth observations, including observations of vegetation composition, foliar traits, forest demography, and subsurface properties in 18 core sampling areas within the domains. Additional surface water observations were taken at over 380 point locations. All CHESS campaign datasets can be found within the CHESS ESS-DIVE data portal: https://data.ess-dive.lbl.gov/portals/chess. Funding Acknowledgement: Field and remote-sensing data acquisition was performed under a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC24K1005). This work was also supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

2018 NEON and 2025 CHESS Campaigns↗
DOE OSTI2020

Distinct Assembly Processes and Microbial Communities Constrain Soil Organic Carbon Formation

Soil stores more carbon (C) than all vegetation and the atmosphere combined. Soil C stocks are broadly shaped by temperature, moisture, soil physical characteristics, vegetation, and microbial-mediated metabolic processes. The efficiency with which microorganisms use soil C regulates the balance between C storage in soil and the atmosphere. In this review, we discuss how microbial physiology and community assembly processes determine microbial growth rate and efficiency and, in turn, soil organic C cycling through the lens of community ecology. We introduce a conceptual framework cataloging life history (i.e., growth rate, resource acquisition, and stress tolerance) and assembly traits (i.e., competition, facilitation, and dispersal) that correspond with different growth efficiencies. We also compare how dominant mycorrhizal fungal type affects growth efficiency. We propose that further development and inclusion of specific community parameters in microbial-explicit Earth system models are needed for accurately predicting soil organic C responses to global change.

carbon sequestration↗
DOE OSTI2023

Trophic interactions shape the spatial organization of medium-chain carboxylic acid producing granular biofilm communities

Abstract Granular biofilms producing medium-chain carboxylic acids (MCCA) from carbohydrate-rich industrial feedstocks harbor highly streamlined communities converting sugars to MCCA either directly or via lactic acid as intermediate. We investigated the spatial organization and growth activity patterns of MCCA producing granular biofilms grown on an industrial side stream to test (i) whether key functional guilds (lactic acid producing Olsenella and MCCA producing Oscillospiraceae) stratified in the biofilm based on substrate usage, and (ii) whether spatial patterns of growth activity shaped the unique, lenticular morphology of these biofilms. First, three novel isolates (one Olsenella and two Oscillospiraceae species) representing over half of the granular biofilm community were obtained and used to develop FISH probes, revealing that key functional guilds were not stratified. Instead, the outer 150–500 µm of the granular biofilm consisted of a well-mixed community of Olsenella and Oscillospiraceae, while deeper layers were made up of other bacteria with lower activities. Second, nanoSIMS analysis of 15N incorporation in biofilms grown in normal and lactic acid amended conditions suggested Oscillospiraceae switched from sugars to lactic acid as substrate. This suggests competitive-cooperative interactions may govern the spatial organization of these biofilms, and suggests that optimizing biofilm size may be a suitable process engineering strategy. Third, growth activities were similar in the polar and equatorial biofilm peripheries, leaving the mechanism behind the lenticular biofilm morphology unexplained. Physical processes (e.g., shear hydrodynamics, biofilm life cycles) may have contributed to lenticular biofilm development. Together, this study develops an ecological framework of MCCA-producing granular biofilms that informs bioprocess development.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Significance of Aggregation Methods in Functional Group Modeling

The growth of forests and the feedbacks between forests and environmental changes are central issues in the planetary carbon cycle, global climate change, and basic plant ecology. A challenge to understanding both growth and feedbacks from local to global scales is that many critical metabolic processes vary among species. An innovation in solving this challenge is the recognition that species can be lumped into “functional groups” based on metabolic similarity, and these functional groups can then be studied in computational models that simulate ecosystem function. Despite the vast resources devoted to functional group studies and the progress made by them, an important logical and biological question has not been formally addressed, “How do the groupings alter the results of modeling studies?” To what extent do modeling results depend on the choices made in aggregating taxa into functional groups. Here, we consider the effects of using different aggregation strategies in simulating the carbon dynamics of a deciduous forest. Understanding the impacts that aggregation strategy has on efforts to simulate regional-to-global-scale forest dynamics offers insights into both ecosystem regulation and model function and addresses this central problem in the study of carbon dynamics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Proximity proteomics in a marine diatom reveals a putative cell surface-to-chloroplast iron trafficking pathway

Iron is a biochemically critical metal cofactor in enzymes involved in photosynthesis, cellular respiration, nitrate assimilation, nitrogen fixation, and reactive oxygen species defense. Marine microeukaryotes have evolved a phytotransferrin-based iron uptake system to cope with iron scarcity, a major factor limiting primary productivity in the global ocean. Diatom phytotransferrin is endocytosed; however, proteins downstream of this environmentally ubiquitous iron receptor are unknown. We applied engineered ascorbate peroxidase APEX2-based subcellular proteomics to catalog proximal proteins of phytotransferrin in the model marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum . Proteins encoded by poorly characterized iron-sensitive genes were identified including three that are expressed from a chromosomal gene cluster. Two of them showed unambiguous colocalization with phytotransferrin adjacent to the chloroplast. Further phylogenetic, domain, and biochemical analyses suggest their involvement in intracellular iron processing. Proximity proteomics holds enormous potential to glean new insights into iron acquisition pathways and beyond in these evolutionarily, ecologically, and biotechnologically important microalgae.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Does Collection Time Bias the Ecology of Cleanroom Air Samples?

Microbial monitoring of astromaterials collections has taken on increased importance with the return of biologically sensitive samples from the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu and the initiation of the Mars Sample Return Program. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi can alter the mineralogy and organic composition of our collections causing irreversible contamination of pristine samples and increasing the risk of false positives for life detection measurements. NASA has conducted routine microbial monitoring of its existing collections since 20181. Initial monitoring focused on surface samples collected with foam swabs. Although, airborne microbiology is often decoupled from surface microbiology in the built environment2 culture-based air sampling techniques like impactors were not compliant with existing contamination control requirements. Bringing organic rich media, gelatin or liquids into curation cleanrooms presents an unacceptable risk to pristine samples. In 2022 NASA purchased a materials complaint air sampler and began collecting air samples from the cleanrooms in addition to surface samples3. The new instrument uses an electret filter to collect samples that are suitable for cultivating organisms or for direct DNA sequencing. Preliminary DNA sequencing results appeared to indicate that longer sampling times biased the microbial community in favor of hearty, spore-forming bacteria3. We present the results of a study comparing overnight sampling (17 hours) to short (1 hour) sampling of unoccupied curation cleanrooms. The results will help us optimize our monitoring protocols and develop a more detailed inventory of the ecology of astromaterials curation cleanrooms. Methods: We analyzed 72 paired air samples from six different cleanrooms including the meteorite processing lab (ISO 7 equivalent, 16 samples), the lunar lab (ISO 6 equivalent, 10 samples), the stardust lab (ISO 5 equivalent 14 samples), the OSIRIS-REx lab (ISO 5 equivalent, 12 samples), the Hayabusa2 lab (ISO 5 equivalent, 14 samples), and the Genesis lab (ISO 4 equivalent, 6 samples). All the samples were collected with an InnovaPrep Bobcat air sampler operating at a sampling rate of 200 L/min. The sampler operates for 5 minutes out of every 20 minute period. Half of the samples were collected by filtering 3,000L (15 min. of active sampling) of air across an electret filter for one hour. The rest of the samples were collected by filtering approximately 51,000 L air across the filter overnight (~17 hours, 255 min. of active sampling). Cells were eluted from the filter using 6-7 ml of pressurized 0.15% tween 20 in PBS (phosphate buffered saline). This liquid was used to cultivate bacteria according to previously published methods1,4,5 and for DNA extraction and next generation sequencing. DNA was extracted with a Qiagen MagAttract PowerMicrobiome kit6. To identify bacteria and archaea, the 16S rRNA gene was amplified using Earth Microbiome primers for the V4 region 7. The amplified DNA was sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq using a V3 reagent kit. The resulting sequences were processed using DADA2 and QIIME2 as implemented on the EDGE bioinformatics platform8–10. Results: Only two of the 72 samples had no amplifiable DNA. Amplified DNA concentrations ranged from 2.67 – 0.272 ng/µl. The median concentration of amplified DNA for the 1 hour samples was 0.770 ± 0.368 ng/µl. The median concentration of amplified DNA for the overnight samples was 0.877 ± 0.434 ng/µl. On average the overnight samples had slightly more sequences (58,960 vs. 59,456) and ASV’s (amplicon sequence variants) (60 vs 64.5) than the one hour samples, but these differences are not statistically significant. The most abundant ASV in every sample mapped to the genus Cupravidus. ASV’s mapping to the genuses Bacillus, Schlegelella, Thermus, and Staphylococcus were also common. Discussion and Future Work: Alpha diversity statistics like Shannon Entropy and Faith Phylogenetic Diversity are used to describe the diversity of organisms in a single sample. If a longer sampling time was biasing the data, we would expect to see a change in these diversity statistics vs. sample time. However, we did not observe this in our data. The median Shannon entropy was slightly higher for the overnight samples (3.773 vs 3.611) as was the Faith Phylogenetic Diversity (4.042 vs 3.596), but both values were within a standard deviation of each other for the two sampling times (Fig. 1). It is unlikely, that the longer sampling time is introducing bias into our data. We do observe a significant decrease in diversity when comparing the air samples by lab. The Genesis lab (ISO 4 equivalent) has a lower median number of ASV’s (45.5) than the other labs (62). Median values for Shannon Entropy (3.717 vs. 3.430) and Faith Phylogenetic Diversity (3.796 vs. 3.548) are also lower for Genesis, but those values are with one standard deviation of each other for the different sampling times. This is consistent with previous culture-based results suggesting that the environment in cleanrooms tends to select for a core group of organisms capable of surviving under dry, low nutrient, conditions. The presence of the ASV’s mapping to Cupravidus and Thermus in our sequencing blanks and controls suggests that several of the most common organisms in our samples represent contaminants from the reagents used to perform the DNA extractions and sequencing. Further work is needed to identify these contaminants, remove them from our data and recalculate the diversity statistics. This is a systematic error. Therefore, we do not expect removing the sequencing contaminants to change our conclusions. Longer air sample collection times appear to result in slightly higher diversity and do not bias the results towards “hardy” bacteria like spore-formers. Based on these preliminary results we conclude that sampling at least 3,000 liters of air is sufficient to capture the microbial diversity of cleanrooms, and that air samples can also be collected overnight without negatively impacting diversity. These results allow us to be flexible when designing microbial monitoring plans so that they do not interfere with routine lab activity. References: 1. Regberg, A. B. et al. 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2018). 2. The United States Pharmacopeial Convention. USP General Chapter <1116> (2013). 3. Regberg, A. B., et al. 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2023). 4. Regberg, A. B. et al. 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference ( 2022). 5. Davis, R. E.,et al. 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2019). 6. Qiagen. MagAttract® PowerMicrobiome® DNA/RNA EP Kit Handbook. (2018). 7. Walters, W. et al. mSystems 1, (2015). 8. Callahan, B. J. et al. Nat. Methods 13, 581–583 (2016). 9. Hall, M. & Beiko, R. G. Microbiome Analysis: Methods and Protocols113–129 (Springer, 2018). 10. Philipson, C. et al. Bio-Protoc. 7, e2622 (2017).

A. B. Regberg↗
DOE OSTI2021

Enrichments of Anaerobic Selenium Oxyanion Reducers from FGD Wastewater Effluent

Flue gas desulfurization systems (FGD) mitigate air pollutants from coal fired power plants. However, such systems produce wastewater that contains other pollutants such as mercury, arsenic, nitrogen, and selenium that must be removed before the water is released back into the environment. Selenium is of interest because chronic low doses of selenium (ng/L) can cause detrimental ecological consequences. Biological treatment can be utilized to remove selenium from FGD wastewater, but the microorganisms involved in this process and environment within the FGD effluent have not been well studied. This study identifies the microorganisms in selenate-enriched and selenite-enriched FGD effluent that can reduce selenium oxyanions to elemental selenium. Knowing more about these organisms can lead to an eventual optimization in the biological removal of selenium species in these wastewaters.

Sarkar, Preom↗
DOE OSTI2023

New technologies as decision aids for the advancement of ecological risk assessment

Moore's law states that the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles every two years (Moore, 1975). This has led to a steady increase in the processing power of computers over time, and technology is now enhancing and advancing software and scientific applications, which has enabled computationally intensive methods such as machine learning, data science, modeling, and simulation. The advancement of computers and data-driven algorithms is profoundly impacting people's lives. It is changing the way we work, the way we learn, and the way we interact with the world around us. Here, this editorial will discuss how scientists can benefit from the latest technology advancements and related tools by incorporating them into the ecological risk assessment (ERA) to study ecosystems as a way to create refined assessments and accelerate the turnaround times.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Investigating effects of soil chemicals on density of small mammal bioindicators using spatial capture-recapture models

Monitoring the ecological impacts of environmental pollution and the effectiveness of remediation efforts requires identifying relationships between contaminants and the disruption of biological processes in populations, communities, or ecosystems. Wildlife are useful bioindicators, but traditional comparative experimental approaches rely on a staunch and typically unverifiable assumption that, in the absence of contaminants, reference and contaminated sites would support the same densities of bioindicators, thereby inferring direct causation from indirect data. We demonstrate the utility of spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models for overcoming these issues, testing if community density of common small mammal bioindicators was directly influenced by soil chemical concentrations. By modeling density as an inhomogeneous Poisson point process, we found evidence for an inverse spatial relationship between Peromyscus density and soil mercury concentrations, but not other chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, at a site formerly occupied by a nuclear reactor. Although the coefficient point estimate supported Peromyscus density being lower where mercury concentrations were higher (β = –0.44), the 95% confidence interval overlapped zero, suggesting no effect was also compatible with our data. Estimated density from the most parsimonious model (2.88 mice/ha; 95% CI = 1.63–5.08), which did not support a density-chemical relationship, was within the range of reported densities for Peromyscus that did not inhabit contaminated sites elsewhere. Environmental pollution remains a global threat to biodiversity and ecosystem and human health, and our study provides an illustrative example of the utility of SCR models for investigating the effects that chemicals may have on wildlife bioindicator populations and communities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of Electrochemical Detectors for Elemental Characterization of Actinides - 20563

The characterization of the actinides contained in radioactive waste involves complex and expensive separation processes. Electrochemical methods allow identifying and quantifying quickly and accurately the elementary concentration of actinides such as Th, U, Pu, Am, and Cm in liquid waste. The objective of this research proposal is to build a low-cost portable miniaturized electrochemical detector, which can be an alternative for an initial characterization of actinides in liquid waste. Therefore, this work proposes the use of an electrochemical graphite detector modified with phthalocyanine, to detect and quantify actinides in aqueous media. The electrochemical response of the modified graphite electrodes was performed by cyclic voltammetry, and so the detection and quantification limits for U and Th were determined. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Recent advances in metallographic polishing for SRF application

This paper is an overview of the metallographic polishing R\&D program covering Niobium and Copper substrates treatment for thin film coating as an alternative fabrication pathway for 1.3 GHz elliptical cavities. The presented research is the result of a collaborative effort between IJCLab, CEA/Irfu, HZB, and KEK in order to develop innovative surface processing and cavity fabrication protocols capable of meeting stringent requirements for SRF surfaces, including the reduction of safety risks and ecological footprint, enhancing reliability, improving the surface roughness, and potentially allowing cost reduction. The research findings will be disclosed.

Hryhorenko, O.↗
DOE OSTI2020

AX Farm and A Farm Third Retrieval Technology Chemical Dissolution Options Evaluation

In response to DOE-ORP direction to prepare a Practicability Evaluation for Waste Tank AX-102, and to address the Washington State Department of Ecology recommendation to evaluate the use of acid reagents for chemical dissolution, an Integrated Project Team (IPT) consisting of retrieval, process chemistry, corrosion, closure and laboratory subject matter experts was assembled to evaluate chemical dissolution options. This document provides a summary of these efforts and is intended to aid in the evaluation and third retrieval technology decision process not only for AX-102, but for all the AX and A Farm tanks, since the tanks contain similar waste and are flat-bottomed with uneven bottom plates.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Recent advances in metallographic polishing for SRF application

This paper is an overview of the metallographic polishing R\&D program covering Niobium and Copper substrates treatment for thin film coating as an alternative fabrication pathway for 1.3 GHz elliptical cavities. The presented research is the result of a collaborative effort between IJCLab, CEA/Irfu, HZB, and KEK in order to develop innovative surface processing and cavity fabrication protocols capable of meeting stringent requirements for SRF surfaces, including the reduction of safety risks and ecological footprint, enhancing reliability, improving the surface roughness, and potentially allowing cost reduction. The research findings will be disclosed.

Hryhorenko, O.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Interdisciplinary Research Collaborative Trains Students to See Through Turbulent Systems

Despite the availability of interdisciplinary academic training programs, the practice of environmental science is often hampered by a lack of convergence across diverse disciplines. This gap is particularly salient in settings characterized by complex environmental issues, such as multiple-use coastal ecosystems. In response, we developed and implemented a training, research, and communication framework to provide undergraduates with an authentic operative experience working at the interface of interdisciplinary science and public decision-making within a case study of marine renewable energy. In our program, students gained hands-on experience with the scientific process and learned how to make information relevant, useful, and accessible to diverse stakeholder groups. Application of this framework demonstrates that the process of integrating data from biological (visual and acoustic monitoring of fish and marine mammals), physical (hydrodynamics), and social (local ecological knowledge) sciences can provide a more complete understanding of complex and turbulent ecosystems for better informed decision-making. We offer several recommendations to facilitate the adaptation and implementation of our interdisciplinary framework to diverse research contexts, with a focus on interdisciplinary training for the next generation of marine scientists.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1986

Potential for utilization of algal biomass for components of the diet in CELSS

The major nutritional components of the green algae (Scenedesmus obliquus) grown in a Constant Cell Density Apparatus were determined. Suitable methodology to prepare proteins from which three major undesirable components of these cells (i.e., cell walls, nucleic acids, and pigments) were either removed or substantially reduced was developed. Results showed that processing of green algae to protein isolate enhances is potential nutritional and organoleptic acceptability as a diet component in controlled Ecological Life Support System.

Kamarei, A. R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Using emergent order to shape a space society

A fast-growing movement in the scientific community is reshaping the way that we view the world around us. The short-hand name for this movement is 'chaos'. Chaos is a science of the global, nonlinear nature of systems. The center of this set of ideas is that simple, deterministic systems can breed complexity. Systems as complex as the human body, ecology, the mind or a human society. While it is true that simple laws can breed complexity, the other side is that complex systems can breed order. It is the latter that I will focus on in this paper. In the past, nonlinear was nearly synonymous with unsolvable because no general analytic solutions exist. Mathematically, an essential difference exists between linear and nonlinear systems. For linear systems, you just break up the complicated system into many simple pieces and patch together the separated solutions for each piece to form a solution to the full problem. In contrast, solutions to a nonlinear system cannot be added to form a new solution. The system must be treated in its full complexity. While it is true that no general analytical approach exists for reducing a complex system such as a society, it can be modeled. The technical involves a mathematical construct called phase space. In this space stable structures can appear which I use as analogies for the stable structures that appear in a complex system such as an ecology, the mind or a society. The common denominator in all of these systems is that they rely on a process called feedback loops. Feedback loops link the microscopic (individual) parts to the macroscopic (global) parts. The key, then, in shaping a space society, is in effectively using feedback loops. This paper will illustrate how one can model a space society by using methods that chaoticists have developed over the last hundred years. And I will show that common threads exist in the modeling of biological, economical, philosophical, and sociological systems.

Graps, Amara L.↗