Taber MacCallum

Mr. MacCallum has worked at every level of command on a research vessel, sailing to over 40 ports and over 30,000 miles around the world. Training in Singapore, he became certified as a Commercial Dive Master and Advanced Diving Instructor. He served as Dive Master for a project to reintroduce two captive research dolphins to the wild, underwater ship salvage operations, and deep water specimen collecting expeditions in every ocean and most of the world’s seas. Taber was a founding member of the Biosphere 2 Design, Development, Test & Operations team, and a crew member in the first two-year mission living and working inside the three-acre materially closed ecological system which supported the life of the eight human inhabitants. Demonstrating the viability of artificial biospheres, Biosphere 2 was designed for research applicable to environmental management on Earth and the development of closed loop human life support technology for long duration space travel. Granted a patent for the analytical systems of Biosphere 2, Taber was responsible for the design, implementation and operation of the atmosphere and water management systems as well as the self-contained paperless analytical laboratories for Biosphere 2 that tested air, water, soil and tissue. As a crew member he served as Safety Officer, Assistant Medical Officer and Analytical Chemist, responsible for operation of all the analytical systems and much of the medical systems. The analytical and medical laboratories performed all the analysis required to understand and operate Biosphere 2, completely independent from sample exchange or external resources. The medical facility had a full suite of diagnostic and treatment capabilities from blood analysis and x-ray to minor surgery. Mr. MacCallum co-founded Paragon in 1993, serving as Chief Executive Officer since its formation. He is also co-designer and patent holder for the Autonomous Biological System (ABS), a long duration plant and aquatic animal life support system. He was also the design lead for the Jet Propulsion Lab Mars Greenhouse Experiment Module (GEM) payload, and Mars GEM payload environmental control and plant life support system. He conceived and is presently involved in the design of a novel Mars space suit portable life support system technology funded by NASA, life support and thermal control systems for commercial manned orbital and suborbital spacecraft, as well as hazardous environment life support technology for U.S. Navy divers, in which he is the test diver.Taber was the Principal Investigator on five microgravity experiments starting in 1988 on the Soviet BioSatellite, then the U.S. Space Shuttle, the Russian Mir Orbital Station and International Space Station. Four-month Mir experiments using the ABS produced the first animals to have completed their life cycle in microgravity, resulting in significant discoveries of innate verses learned animal behavior over multiple generations in space. The series of experiments also resulted in the first aquatic plants to be grown in space and the first completely closed ecological systems to be used in space, enabling truly controlled microgravity biological research. He has published numerous papers resulting from his work at Biosphere 2 on space biology, technology development, medical issues and on the experience of living and working in an Isolated Confined Environment. Paragon has design, development and hardware production responsibilities on several NASA flight and technology programs, including the Commercial Crew Transport Air Revitalization System, Crew Space Suit System, Orion Spacecraft, Solid Oxide oxygen production technology, portable life support technology for Mars, ISS Small Payload Quick Return system, and several human spacecraft thermal technologies including radiators, fluids and sublimation systems. For several years in a row now, Paragon has been listed by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in America, and the fastest growing aerospace engineering company. Paragon has won numerous awards for management and innovation, including top honors from the Governor of Arizona for innovation and management.