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Non-regenerative carbon dioxide (CO2) removal system, oxygen (O2) gas storage system, and other consumables have been utilized for the past short-term environmental control system on orbit because of the advantages of system weight, electric power consumption, system reliability, and so forth. However, to sustain long-term manned activity, regenerative resource recycle systems should be essential to reduce the quantity and frequency of resupply from the Earth. O2 generation system (OGS) is indispensable to this resource recycle systems and water electrolysis technology is considered to be suitable for near future space applications. The authors have been studying OGS since 1985 concerning a new solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) and simplified cell structure. This paper describes OGS development status and results of preliminary experiments.

It is necessary to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) and other contaminant gases generated from the crew and nonmetallic materials to keep the allowable level of them for the long duration life support in the space station. Therefore, the Air Revitalization System (ARS) shall be provided in the space station. The ARS for Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) consists of a regenerative CO2 removal system and a trace contaminant control system (TCCS). A solid amine CO2 removal system has been evaluated as the preferable technology. An adsorption and catalytic oxidizing method has been selected for the TCCS. This paper describes the outline of the investigations and study results of the ARS for JEM implemented on the phase B preliminary study (entrusted by NASDA) and subsequent activity.