Interview with space systems researcher, biologist, and artist Angelo Vermeulen on his latest studies on closing the loop of a bio-regenerative life support system that can create a biosphere in space.
He works on bio-inspired concepts for interstellar exploration at Delft University of Technology, with a specific focus on self-replicating architecture and biological life support. He is the CTO (chief technology officer) of SpaceBorn United, a company that focuses on the development of technologies for human reproduction in space.
Vermeulen has a profound interest in complexity science and is fascinated by principles of self-organisation, emergence and evolution. In 2013 he served as crew commander of the first NASA-funded HI-SEAS Mars simulation in Hawaii, and in 2022 he reached the final 6% of candidates during the ESA Astronaut Selection process.
Interviewer and production Barbara Imhof
Image © E|A|S (Evolving Asteroid Starships)/Arise Wan
Music © Bensound
