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Optimal temperature control for confined spaces and life support systems, using mathematical models of environmental control systems
Manned 90-day performance test of regenerative life support systems in space station simulator including crew biomedical tests
The production of food for human life support for advanced space missions will require the management of many different crops. The research to design these food production capabilities along with the waste management to recycle human metabolic wastes and inedible plant components are parts of Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS). Since complete operating CELSS were not yet built, a useful adjunct to the research developing the various pieces of a CELSS are system simulation models that can examine what is currently known about the possible assembly of subsystems into a full CELSS. The growth dynamics of four crops (wheat, soybeans, potatoes, and lettuce) are examined for their general similarities and differences within the context of their important effects upon the dynamics of the gases, liquids, and solids in the CELSS. Data for the four crops currently under active research in the CELSS program using high-production hydroponics are presented. Two differential equations are developed and applied to the general characteristics of each crop growth pattern. Model parameters are determined by closely approximating each crop's data.
The use of yeasts in controlled ecological life support systems (CELSS) for microbial food regeneration in space required the accurate and reproducible analysis of intracellular carbohydrate and protein levels. The reproducible analysis of glycogen was a key element in estimating overall content of edibles in candidate yeast strains. Typical analytical methods for estimating glycogen in Saccharomyces were not found to be entirely aplicable to other candidate strains. Rigorous cell lysis coupled with acid/base fractionation followed by specific enzymatic glycogen analyses were required to obtain accurate results in two strains of Candida. A profile of edible fractions of these strains was then determined. The suitability of yeasts as food sources in CELSS food production processes is discussed.
The paper describes a higher-plant-based engineering paradigm for advanced life support in a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) on the surface of the moon or Mars, called the CELSS Breadboard Project, designed at John F. Kennedy Space Center. Such a higher-plant-based system would use the plants for a direct food source, gas exchange, water reclamation, and plant residuals in a complex biological resource recovery scheme. The CELSS Breadboard Project utilizes a 'breadboard' approach of developing independent systems that are evaluated autonomously and are later interconnected. Such a scheme will enable evaluation of life support system methodologies tested for their efficiency in a life support system for habitats on the moon or Mars.
Human exploration missions beyond low earth orbit, such as NASA’s Artemis Program, present significant challenges to spacecraft system design and supportability. A particularly challenging area is the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that maintains a habitable and life-sustaining environment for crewmembers. NASA is utilizing the experience gained from its current and prior spaceflight programs to mature life support technologies for exploration missions to deep space. The intent is to establish a portfolio of life support system capabilities with proven performance and reliability to enable human exploration missions and reduce risk to success of those missions. As a fully operational human-occupied platform in microgravity, the International Space Station (ISS) presents a unique opportunity to act as a testbed for exploration-class ECLSS, such that these systems may be tested, proven, and refined for eventual deployment on deep space human exploration missions. This paper will provide an updated status on the testbed development including hardware and ISS vehicle integration progress to date as well as future plans for efforts to design, select, build, test and fly Exploration ECLSS on the ISS.
Human exploration missions beyond low earth orbit, such as NASA’s Artemis Program, present significant challenges to spacecraft system design and supportability. A particularly challenging area is the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that maintains a habitable and life-sustaining environment for crewmembers. NASA is utilizing the experience gained from its current and prior spaceflight programs to mature life support technologies for exploration missions to deep space. The intent is to establish a portfolio of life support system capabilities with proven performance and reliability to enable human exploration missions and reduce risk to success of those missions. As a fully operational human-occupied platform in microgravity, the International Space Station (ISS) presents a unique opportunity to act as a testbed for exploration-class ECLSS, such that these systems may be tested, proven, and refined for eventual deployment on deep space human exploration missions. This paper will provide an updated status on the testbed development including hardware and ISS vehicle integration progress to date as well as future plans for efforts to design, select, build, test and fly Exploration ECLSS on the ISS.
Human exploration missions beyond low earth orbit, such as NASA’s Artemis Program, present significant challenges to spacecraft system design and supportability. A particularly challenging area is the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that maintains a habitable and life-sustaining environment for crewmembers. NASA is utilizing the experience gained from its current and prior spaceflight programs to mature life support technologies for exploration missions to deep space. The intent is to establish a portfolio of life support system capabilities with proven performance and reliability to enable human exploration missions and reduce risk to success of those missions. As a fully operational human-occupied platform in microgravity, the International Space Station (ISS) presents a unique opportunity to act as a testbed for exploration-class ECLSS, such that these systems may be tested, proven, and refined for eventual deployment on deep space human exploration missions. This paper will provide an updated status on the testbed development including hardware and ISS vehicle integration progress to date as well as future plans for efforts to design, select, build, test and fly Exploration ECLSS on the ISS.
Human exploration missions beyond low earth orbit, such as NASA’s Artemis Program, present significant challenges to spacecraft system design and supportability. A particularly challenging area is the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that maintains a habitable and life-sustaining environment for crewmembers. NASA is utilizing the experience gained from its current and prior spaceflight programs to mature life support technologies for exploration missions to deep space. The intent is to establish a portfolio of life support system capabilities with proven performance and reliability to enable human exploration missions and reduce risk to success of those missions. As a fully operational human-occupied platform in microgravity, the International Space Station (ISS) presents a unique opportunity to act as a testbed for exploration-class ECLSS, such that these systems may be tested, proven, and refined for eventual deployment on deep space human exploration missions. This paper will provide an updated status on the testbed development including hardware and ISS vehicle integration progress to date as well as future plans for efforts to design, select, build, test and fly Exploration ECLSS on the ISS.
Human exploration missions beyond low earth orbit, such as NASA’s Artemis Program, present significant challenges to spacecraft system design and supportability. A particularly challenging area is the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that maintains a habitable and life-sustaining environment for crewmembers. NASA is utilizing the experience gained from its current and prior spaceflight programs to mature life support technologies for exploration missions to deep space. The intent is to establish a portfolio of life support system capabilities with proven performance and reliability to enable human exploration missions and reduce risk to success of those missions. As a fully operational human-occupied platform in microgravity, the International Space Station (ISS) presents a unique opportunity to act as a testbed for exploration-class ECLSS, such that these systems may be tested, proven, and refined for eventual deployment on deep space human exploration missions. This paper will provide an updated status on the testbed development including hardware and ISS vehicle integration progress to date as well as future plans for efforts to design, select, build, test and fly Exploration ECLSS on the ISS.
Publications of research sponsored by the NASA Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) program are listed. The CELSS program encompasses research and technology with the goal of developing an autonomous bioregenerative life support system, which is based upon the integration of biological and physical/chemical processes, that will produce nutritious and palatable food, potable and hygienic water, and a breathable atmosphere by recycling metabolic and other wastes. This research and technology development is being performed in the areas of biomass production/food processing, waste management, and systems management and control. The bibliography follows these divisions. Principal investigators whose research tasks resulted in publication are identified by an asterisk. Publications are identified by a record number corresponding with their entry in the Life Sciences Bibliographic Database, maintained at the George Washington University.
The basic requirements for crew life support systems of flights of up to 30 days are described. Food products, drinking water, oxygen for breathing, and sanitary-technical facilities are among the factors considered. Life support systems utilized on Vostok, Voskhod, Soyuz, Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo are discussed.
The Space Station Freedom Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) will have to accommodate the changes to Freedom as it evolves over the design life of 30 years or more. Requirements will change as pressurized modules are added, crew numbers increase, and as the tasks to be performed change. This evolution will result in different demands on the ECLSS and the ECLSS wilt have to adapt. Technologies other than the baselined ones may be better able to perform the various tasks and technological advances will result in improved life support hardware having better performance, increased reliability, reduced power consumption, weight, and volume, greater autonomy, and fewer resupply requirements. A preliminary study was performed to look at alternative technologies for life support and evaluate them for their integration requirements, focusing on the fluid line interface requirements. (A follow-on study will expand greatly on the scope of this preliminary study.) The integration requirements of the alternative technologies may be different from those of the baselined technologies. If this is the case, then by designing the initial space station to have the necessary fluid lines, etc. required by the selected alternative technologies then the task of replacing the baselined ones will be greatly simplified, thereby reducing the cost in on-orbit time as well as dollars.
Thermal integration of electric power and life support systems for manned space stations
Publications of research sponsored by the NASA Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Program from 1979 to 1989 are listed. The CELSS Program encompasses research and technology with the goal of developing an autonomous bioregenerative life support system that continually recycles the solid, liquid, and gaseous materials essential for human life. The bibliography is divided into four major subject areas: food production, nutritional requirements, waste management, and systems management and control.
The instrumentation requirements for a regenerative life support systems were studied to provide the earliest possible indication of a malfunction that will permit degradation of the environment. Four categories of parameters were investigated: environmental parameters that directly and immediately influence the health and safety of the cabin crew; subsystems' inputs to the cabin that directly maintain the cabin environmental parameters; indications for maintenance or repair; and parameters useful as diagnostic indicators. A data averager concept is introduced which provides a moving average of parameter values that is not influenced by spurious changes, and is convenient for detecting parameter rates of change. A system is included to provide alarms at preselected parameter levels.
A Bioregenerative Life Support Test Complex, BIO-Plex, is currently being constructed at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX. This facility will attempt to answer the questions involved in developing a lunar or planetary base. The Food Processing System (FPS) of the BIO-Plex is responsible for supplying food to the crew in coordination with the chosen mission scenario. Long duration space missions require development of both a Transit Food System and of a Lunar or Planetary Food System. These two systems are intrinsically different since the first one will be utilized in the transit vehicle in microgravity conditions with mostly resupplied foods, while the second will be used in conditions of partial gravity (hypogravity) to process foods from crops grown in the facility. The Transit Food System will consist of prepackaged food of extended shelf life. It will be supplemented with salad crops that will be consumed fresh. Microgravity imposes significant limitation on the ability to handle food and allows only for minimal processing. The challenge is to develop food systems similar to the International Space Station or Shuttle Food Systems but with a shelf life of 3 - 5 years. The Lunar or Planetary Food System will allow for food processing of crops due to the presence of some gravitational force (1/6 to 1/3 that of Earth). Crops such as wheat, soybean, rice, potato, peanut, and salad crops, will be processed to final products to provide a nutritious and acceptable diet for the crew. Not only are constraints imposed on the FPS from the crops (e.g., crop variation, availability, storage and shelf-life) but also significant requirements are present for the crew meals (e.g., RDA, high quality, safety, variety). The FPS becomes a fulcrum creating the right connection from crops to crew meals while dealing with issues of integration within a closed self-regenerative system (e.g., safe processing, waste production, volumes, air contaminations, water usage, etc.). Options for the first test, for duration of 120 days, currently scheduled for late 2003 are outlined.
Life support system for extended space flights - liquid-gas separation mechanisms