Life support research and development, a Department of Energy program for the Space Exploration Initiative
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
The materials needed to sustain life in space operations can either be brought from Earth or created in place from wastes or in situ resources. Long-term missions of the future will require an approach in which most of the waste materials are processed and recycled and/or local resources are utilized. The concept of a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) is under consideration for this task. Although there has been important research in this area, a technical data base does not yet exist for design of such systems. Such CELSS systems can really be considered as highly integrated physical/chemical/biological processing systems that must have very high reliability. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories have established a significant competence in the treatment of waste materials, especially with bioprocessing systems. Similar approaches will be used in life support R&D within the Space Exploration Initiative of the DOE. Initial research will concentrate on the processing and recycle of waste materials using microbial, enzymatic, or thermochemical processing. Other research areas will also be considered. The resulting innovative technology developed for space applications could also be the basis for important new approaches to the solution of terrestrial problems, particularly for the processing and recycle of waste materials.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10123147
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-920263-1; ON: DE92007681
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International conference on life support and biospherics,Huntsville, AL (United States),19-20 Feb 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1992]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Life support research and development for the Department of Energy Space Exploration Initiative
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