Long-duration space mission regenerative life support

Plant bioregenerative life supports: The Italian CAB Project

“…The main objective in CAB is to develop a regenerative system, promoting self-sufficiency and minimizing the need of resources for long-lasting missions , Blackwell 1995, Tamponnet 1996, Samsonov et al 2000, Schreckenghost et al 2002). This will be achieved throughout the maximization of its cycle closure and regeneration using higher plants and other autotrophic organisms (Rygalov 1995, Salisbury & Clark 1995, Volk 1996, Ivanova et al 1998, Bluem & Paris 2001, Ferl et al 2002, Musgrave 2002, Monje et al 2003, Teixeira 2007, the design and setting up of an integrated monitoring and adaptive control system and a better understanding of problems related to buffering of the regenerated resources (Strayer & Atkinson 1997, Ivanova et al 1998, Tamponnet et al 1999, Wheeler 2003.…”

“…Space environment compatibility issues will be resolved (Leonard & Aksamentov 1995, Bartsev et al 1996, Samsonov et al 2000, Drysdale et al 2004. Research efforts will focus on reduced gravity issues with plants and multi-phase systems (Berkovitch 1995, Bingham et al 1995, Musgrave et al 2000, Kitaya et al 2000, Stout et al 2001, Kostov et al 2002, Evetts et al 2005, NashashibiRabah et al 2005, ionizing radiation susceptibility of living organisms (plants, bacteria) (Horneck 1999), low pressure operations and possible psychological benefits of the greenhouse system (availability of fresh food, environment similar to earth, smell, flavours) for the crew in isolation (Harrison & Summit 1991, Lugg & Shepanek 1999, Suedfeld & Steel 2000, Shepanek 2005.…”

“…In this environment, photosynthetic higher plants and algae will provide the essential functions of biomass productivity in a CELSS, and a combination of physico-chemical and bioregenerative processes will be used to regenerate renewable resources from waste materials (Mitchell 1994). A review of the literature offers a wide range of examples and application of CELSS (Brechignac & Wolf 1994, Nelson et al 1994, Gorgolewski 1995, Velayudhan et al 1995, Tamponnet 1996, Nickel et al 1997, Samsonov et al 2000, Paille et al 2000, Bluem & Paris 2001, Savage et al 2001, Schreckenghost et al 2002, Blum 2003, Bluem & Paris 2003, Wu & Garibay 2004.…”

“…In particular, the system will include the higher plants as a basic element for food production. Since previous breakeven analyses show that bio-regenerative systems become convenient for mission longer than years (Mitchell 1994, Wheeler et al 1995, Tamponnet 1996, Eckart 1996, Samsonov et al 2000, Schreckenghost et al 2002, Wu & Garibay 2004, Evetts et al 2005, Russell & Klaus 2007, the CAB system shall be designed for planetary missions, i.e., for gravity environment. At the moment, the presence of the crew inside the CAB system is assumed to be in the order of some hours per day.…”

“…These activities have given the possibility to gather information about the human adaptability to life conditions in confined and extreme environments and to perform fundamental experiences for the definition of regenerative technologies, both physico-chemical and biological , Blackwell 1995, Bartsev et al 1996, Tamponnet 1996, Samsonov et al 2000, Schreckenghost et al 2002, Evetts et al 2005, Russell & Klaus 2007. In the meantime, major space agencies have started to plan and develop future human activities in space (Fulget et al 1999, Godia et al 2002, Stuffler et al 2004, Hendrickx et al 2006.…”