Mars life support systems

Abstract

Background: A critical element of planning human missions to Mars involves life support systems. The requirements for air, food, water and waste disposal materials in human missions to Mars total well over 100 metric tons and possibly as much as 200 metric tons. Translated back into an equivalent mass required in low Earth orbit, this figure would increase by at least a factor of seven, depending on mission architecture, requiring at least half a dozen heavy-lift launches solely for life support, and thus driving the cost and complexity of human missions to Mars beyond any reasonable limit. Recycling and possibly in situ utilization of indigenous Mars water resources are therefore critical enabling capabilities for human missions to Mars. Previous "design reference missions" assumed that high-performance life support systems would function flawlessly for the ~ 2.7 year round trip to Mars. However, life support systems developed for the International Space Station do not appear to have the longevity and reliability needed for Mars. As NASA moves forward with the current human exploration initiative, we need some means of estimating the required mass of life support system that goes beyond wild optimistic guesses. NASA's Advanced Life Support (ALS) project has been advancing the technology of recycling of water and air resources in human space missions for some time. Emphasis has been placed on recovery percentage and trace contaminant removal.

Biological Protection in Deep Space Missions

“…Moreover, in some reports the probability of short-term SPEs during the round trip to and from Mars is estimated to be as high as 20% [ 66 ]. There is also an additional ~20% probability of short-term solar particle events (SPEs) during a 12-18 months round trip to Mars, which could conceivably impart a relatively high acute dose of predominantly protons and light ions within an hour or less, which significantly complicates the mission planning [ 1 , 67 , 68 ].…”

Quartz Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy Based Trace Gas Sensors Using Different Quartz Tuning Forks

“…Trace gas sensor technologies are widely used in many applications, such as atmospheric chemistry [ 1 , 2 ], life science [ 3 ], medical diagnostics [ 4 ] and planetary exploration [ 5 ]. Trace gas sensor platforms based on near-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy have been reported in recent years [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”