Life Support and Environmental Monitoring International System Maturation Team Considerations

Human exploration of the solar system is an ambitious goal. Future human missions to Mars or other planets will require the cooperation of many nations to be feasible. Exploration goals and concepts have been gathered by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) at a very high level, representing the overall goals and strategies of each participating space agency. The Global Exploration Roadmap published by ISECG states that international partnerships are part of what drives the mission scenarios. It states "Collaborations will be established at all levels (missions, capabilities, technologies), with various levels of interdependency among the partners." To make missions with interdependency successful, technologists and system experts need to share information early, before agencies have made concrete plans and binding agreements. This paper provides an overview of possible ways of integrating NASA, ESA, and JAXA work into a conceptual roadmap of life support and environmental monitoring capabilities for future exploration missions. Agencies may have immediate plans as well as long term goals or new ideas that are not part of official policy. But relationships between plans and capabilities may influence the strategies for the best ways to achieve partner goals. Without commitments and an organized program like the International Space Station, requirements for future missions are unclear. Experience from ISS has shown that standards and an early understanding of requirements are an important part of international partnerships. Attempting to integrate systems that were not designed together can create many problems. Several areas have been identified that could be important to discuss and understand early: units of measure, cabin CO2 levels, and the definition and description of fluids like high purity oxygen, potable water and residual biocide, and crew urine and urine pretreat. Each of the partners is exploring different kinds of technologies. Different specific parameters may important to define or explore possible ranges depending on the system concepts. Early coordination between technology developers can create new possibilities for collaboration, and provide input to determine what combined options may provide the best overall system architecture

Development of Carbon Dioxide Removal Systems for Advanced Exploration Systems 2014-2015

A long-term goal for NASA is to enable crewed missions to Mars: first to the vicinity of Mars, and then to the Mars surface. These missions present new challenges for all aspects of spacecraft design in comparison with the International Space Station, as resupply is unavailable in the transit phase, and early return is not possible. Additionally, mass, power, and volume must be minimized for all phases to reduce propulsion needs. Mass reduction is particularly crucial for Mars surface landing and liftoff due to the challenges inherent in these operations for even much smaller payloads. In this paper we describe current and planned developments in the area of carbon dioxide removal to support future crewed Mars missions. Activities are also described that apply to both the resolution of anomalies observed in the ISS CDRA and the design of life support systems for future missions

Life Support and Environmental Monitoring International System Maturation Team Considerations.

Human exploration of the solar system is an ambitious goal. Future human missions to Mars or other planets will require the cooperation of many nations to be feasible. Exploration goals and concepts have been gathered by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) at a very high level, representing the overall goals and strategies of each participating space agency. The Global Exploration Roadmap published by ISECG states that international partnerships are part of what drives the the mission scenarios. It states "Collaborations will be established at all levels (missions, capabilities, technologies), with various levels of interdependency among the partners." To make missions with interdependency successful, technologists and system experts need to share information early, before agencies have made concrete plans and binding agreements. This paper provides an overview of possible ways of integrating NASA, ESA, and JAXA work into a conceptual roadmap of life support and environmental monitoring capabilities for future exploration missions. Agencies may have immediate plans as well as long term goals or new ideas that are not part of official policy. But relationships between plans and capabilities may influence the strategies for the best ways to achieve partner goals. Without commitments and an organized program like the International Space Station, requirements for future missions are unclear. Experience from ISS has shown that standards and an early understanding of requirements are an important part of international partnerships. Attempting to integrate systems that were not designed together can create many problems. Several areas have been identified that could be important to discuss and understand early: units of measure, cabin CO2 levels, and the definition and description of fluids like high purity oxygen, potable water and residual biocide, and crew urine and urine pretreat. Each of the partners is exploring different kinds of technologies. Different specific parameters may important to define or explore possible ranges depending on the system concepts. Early coordination between technology developers can create new possibilities for collaboration, and provide input to determine what combined options may provide the best overall system architecture

The Next Steps for Environmental Control and Life Support Systems Development for Deep Space Exploration

Mark Jernigan, NASARobyn Gatens, NASAJay Perry, NASAJitendra Joshi, NASAICES506: Human Exploration Beyond Low Earth Orbit: Missions and TechnologiesThe 48th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA on 08 July 2018 through 12 July 2018.Throughout the life of the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has developed, delivered and operated a suite of progres-sively more capable environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) components and assemblies. These efforts have resulted in substantially reducing the supply chain necessary to sustain crews in flight and garnering invaluable lessons for sustained long term operations of the equipment. Currently, the ISS provides a unique platform for understanding the effects of the environment on the hardware. NASA’s strategy, already underway, is to evolve the ISS ECLSS into the Exploration ECLSS and perform a long-duration demonstration on ISS in preparation for deep space missions. This includes demonstra-tions of upgrades and/or new capabilities for waste manage-ment, atmosphere revitalization, water recovery, and environ-mental monitoring. Within the Advanced Exploration Systems Program under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) model, NASA intends to revise the architecture developed for ISS to make the systems completely independent of the Earth supply chain for the duration of a deep space crewed mission by increasing robustness, including pro-spective system monitoring to anticipate failures, designing for maintenance, repair and refurbishment, reducing spare part count through use of common components, and grouping sub-systems into modular pallets to minimize interfaces and reduce complexity. The NextSTEP ECLSS will be a partnership between NASA and a competitively selected team of industry partners to produce a closed loop long duration test capability to establish confidence that the systems will be able to work properly in the deep space environment for extremely long missions

Life Support and Environmental Monitoring International System Maturation Team Considerations

United StatesJapanNetherlandsNASA JSCNASAJAXAESA307ICES307: Collaboration, Education and Outreach, and Public EngagementVienna, AustriaMolly Anderson, NASA Johnson Space Center, USARobyn Gatens, NASA Headquarters, USAToshitami Ikeda, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JapanTsuyoshi Ito, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JapanScott Hovland, ESA-ESTEC, The NetherlandsJohannes Witt, ESA-ESTEC, The NetherlandsThe 46th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Vienna, Austria, USA on 10 July 2016 through 14 July 2016.Human exploration of the solar system is an ambitious goal. Future missions to Mars or other planets will require the cooperation of many nations. Exploration concepts have been gathered by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) at a high level, representing overall goals and strategies of each participating agency. The ISECG Global Exploration Roadmap states that international partnerships are part of what drives the mission scenarios. It states “Collaborations will be established at all levels (missions, capabilities, technologies), with various levels of interdependency among the partners.” To make missions with interdependency successful, technologists and system experts need to share information early, before there are concrete plans and binding agreements. This paper provides an overview of possible ways of integrating NASA, ESA, and JAXA work into a roadmap of life support and environmental monitoring capabilities for future exploration missions. Agencies may have immediate plans, long term goals, or new ideas that are not part of official policy. But relationships between plans and capabilities may influence the strategies for the best ways to achieve partner goals. Without commitments and an organized program, requirements for future missions are unclear. Experience from ISS shows that standards and an early understanding of requirements are an important part of international partnerships. Attempting to integrate systems that were not designed together can create many problems. Several areas have been identified as important to discuss and understand: units of measure, cabin CO2 levels, and fluids like high purity oxygen, potable water and residual biocide, and crew urine and urine pretreat. Each of the partners is exploring different kinds of technologies. Depending on the system concepts, it may be important to define specific parameters, or explore possible ranges. Early coordination can create new possibilities for collaboration, and provide input to determine what combinations create the best overall system

NASA Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2016 to 2017 Overview

Molly Anderson, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAJames Broyan, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USARobyn Gatens, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAAriel Macatangay, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAJay Perry, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAWalter Schneider, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USANikzad Toomarian, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), USAICES506: Human Exploration Beyond Low Earth Orbit: Missions and TechnologiesThe 47th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in South Carolina, USA on 16 July 2017 through 20 July 2017.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s life support community has made significant progress in the last year advancing key technologies and capabilities to enable future exploration missions. Technology gap identification and prioritization has remained fairly consistent. The development teams have completed key development milestones to prove or disprove the feasibility of new technology. Decisions were made to narrow technology options and even make the first selections for technologies that will be demonstrated at full scale on the International Space Station (ISS). Detailed planning for integrated system demonstrations on ISS has begun. Also, other activities began to investigate the ECLS system design and integration considerations for development of capabilities for the cislunar proving ground. This paper provides an overview of the refined Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) strategic planning, and overall roadmap updates, as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2016 and early 2017 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2017 and subsequent years are also described

Development of Carbon Dioxide Removal Systems for Advanced Exploration Systems 2014-2015

Bellevue, WashingtonJames C. Knox, Marshall Space Flight Center, USARobert Coker, Marshall Space Flight Center, USATimothy L. Huff, Marshall Space Flight Center, USARobyn Gatens, NASA Headquarters, USALee A. Miller, Jacobs ESSSA Team, USAChristine Stanley, Jacobs ESSSA Team, USAThe 45th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Bellevue, Washington, USA on 12 July 2015 through 16 July 2015.A long-term goal for NASA is to enable crewed missions to Mars: first to the vicinity of Mars, and then to the Mars surface. These missions present new challenges for all aspects of spacecraft design in comparison with the International Space Station, as resupply is unavailable in the transit phase, and early return is not possible. Additionally, mass, power, and volume must be minimized for all phases to reduce propulsion needs. Mass reduction is particularly crucial for Mars surface landing and liftoff due to the challenges inherent in these operations for even much smaller payloads. In this paper we describe current and planned developments in the area of carbon dioxide removal to support future crewed Mars missions. Activities are also described that apply to both the resolution of anomalies observed in the ISS CDRA and the design of life support systems for future missions

Comparison of Exploration Oxygen Recovery Technology Options Using ESM and LSMAC

Morgan Abney, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USARobyn Gatens, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAKevin Lange, Jacobs Technology, USABrittany Brown, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAJohn Wetzel, Sierra Nevada Corporation, USARobert Morrow, Sierra Nevada Corporation, USAWalter Schneider, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAChristine Stanley, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAICES302: Physio-chemical Life Support- Air Revitalization Systems -Technology and Process DevelopmentThe proceedings for the 2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems were published from July 31, 2020. The technical papers were not presented in person due to the inability to hold the event as scheduled in Lisbon, Portugal because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.In preparation for long duration manned space flight, numerous technology development efforts are ongoing in the area of environmental control and life support (ECLS). In cooperation with international, industry, and academic partners, NASA seeks to leverage the International Space Station as a testbed for technologies targeted for Exploration-class missions. In recent years, Equivalent Systems Mass (ESM) analyses have been conducted to evaluate the relative breakeven points and to compare technologies as part of ECLS architectural trades. While these studies have provided important data pertaining to key engineering metrics, additional considerations are important to more fully understand the potential impacts and costs associated with selecting a specific architecture. A tool, called the Life Support Multi-Dimensional Assessment Criteria (LSMAC), was recently proposed by Sierra Nevada Corporation in an attempt to incorporate influences of these additional considerations including Maintainability, Risk Analysis, Technology Readiness Level, Radiation Impacts, Manufacturing Costs, Reliability, Human Factors, and Un-Crewed Operations. As a first step toward evaluating and implementing this tool, LSMAC was used to revisit the ISS oxygen recovery trade from the 1990’s wherein Sabatier was selected over Bosch technology. Second, the tool was used to compare oxygen recovery developmental technologies currently in work. The results of these studies as well as a comparison with standalone ESM analyses are reported. Further, a discussion of the potential application of the tool across the ECLS portfolio and its potential use in future technology selection for ISS flight demonstrations is provided

NASA Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2015 to 2016 Overview

United StatesNASA MSFCNASANASA-JSCNASA Johnson Space CenterNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA/JPL506ICES506: Human Exploration Beyond Low Earth Orbit: Missions and TechnologiesVienna, AustriaWalter F. Schneider , NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USARobyn L. Gatens, NASA Headquarters, USAMolly S. Anderson, NASA Johnson Space Center, USAJames L. Broyan, NASA Johnson Space Center, USAAriel V. MaCatangay, NASA Johnson Space Center, USASarah A. Shull, NASA Johnson Space Center, USAJay L. Perry, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USANikzad Toomarian, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USAThe 46th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Vienna, Austria, USA on 10 July 2016 through 14 July 2016.Over the last year, NASA has continued to refine the understanding and prioritization of technology gaps that must be closed in order to achieve Evolvable Mars Campaign objectives. These efforts are reflected in updates to the technical area roadmaps released by NASA in 2015 and have guided technology development and maturation tasks that have been sponsored by various programs. This paper provides an overview of the refined Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) strategic planning, as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2015 and early 2016 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2015 and subsequent years will also be described

NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2019 to 2020 Overview

Walter Schneider, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAJay Perry, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAJames Broyan, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAAriel Macatangay, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAMelissa McKinley, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USACaitlin Meyer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAAndrew Owens, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USANikzad Toomarian, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USARobyn Gatens, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAICES506: Human Exploration Beyond Low Earth Orbit: Missions and TechnologiesThe proceedings for the 2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems were published from July 31, 2020. The technical papers were not presented in person due to the inability to hold the event as scheduled in Lisbon, Portugal because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.During 2019 and 2020, NASA’s Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) technology development projects have taken vital steps toward establishing readiness for the next generation of human space exploration missions. Technology demonstration systems from last year have been operated on the International Space Station (ISS) and others have been launched. Development of future technology demonstrations is on-going. Facility and hardware development for ground testing to be conducted that strategically complements the on-orbit demonstrations and some ground testing has been initiated. Reliability studies have started to define requirements for on-orbit and ground testing and other investments to support exploration missions. These efforts support NASA missions beyond LEO and include Gateway, lunar surface, Mars transportation, and Mars surface. This paper provides an overview of the current ECLS strategic planning and roadmap as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2019 and early 2020 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2020 and subsequent years are also described