If we envision a long-lasting future of humanity in space, we need to understand the fundamental rules governing the performance of different types of ecosystems with various features and conditions. Specific case studies of carefully designed closed systems are effective for a relatively short period of time under certain conditions, but cannot adapt to emergent properties of ecosystems as they go through multiple phases of evolution, which surely happen in long-term space settlement. The goal of this project is to synthesize current models to develop a unifying theoretical framework of ecosystem functioning. This would allow us to move outside known case studies and enable predictive design of the initial phase of space settlement and their subsequent evolution.

People

Hikaru Furukawa
Project lead, PhD student, School of Earth and Space Exploration/ ASU

Sara Walker 
Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration/ ASU

Jordan Okie 
Assistant Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration/ ASU

Manfred Laubichler
President’s Professor, School of Life Sciences/ ASU Director, Global Biosocial Complexity Initiative/ ASU

Michael Barton
Director, Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity/ ASU Professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change/ ASU

John Malloy
Graduate Student, School of Earth and Space Exploration/ ASU 

Pilar Vergeli 
Graduate Student, School of Earth and Space Exploration/ ASU 

Alexa Drew
Student, School of Earth and Space Exploration/ ASU

Harrison Smith
Postdoc, Earth and Life Science Institute/ Tokyo Japan