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Based on experience obtained in operation of the water and oxygen recovery systems installed onboard the Russian space stations Salut, Mir and the International Space Station ISS, data on the water and oxygen balance for a space station are presented as well as operational parameters and performance data of the systems. Using the data obtained design analysis of an integrated life support system for water and oxygen recovery based on physical/chemical means to be installed on a promising space station is carried out. Mandatory verification tests of new process (technologies) and recovery systems are to be conducted on ISS.

Interplanetary manned missions will change significantly the requirements imposed upon Life Support Systems (LSS) and specifically the requirements on LSS Automated Control Systems (ACS). During interplanetary manned missions the possibilities to control the operation of a specific system from the Ground Mission Control Center (GMCC) are diminished considerably. Therefore, this demands survivability and intelligent level enhancement LSS ACS.

This paper reviews the preliminary definition of integrated life support system configurations based on a single criterion decision-making task (SCDMT). Comparative analysis results are shown for currently used effectiveness models based on SCDMT. Possible areas of application for those models are determined. It is also proven that well-known effectiveness model, which uses an equivalent mass approach to determine system expenditures, can be used only in cases where useful effect from system operation is the same. The article proposes the use of a global thermodynamic effectiveness criterion based on the exergy method to account for ECLSS functional expenditures, i.e. functional costs. Exergy is a concept that fuses energy and material quality information in a measure that is both descriptive and physically significant. This method accounts for nonequivalence of different forms of energy and allows measuring technological flows in the system using same measuring units.

The paper deals with the problems of development of physico-chemical systems for water recovery and atmosphere revitalization for long-duration space stations. Schematics of regenerative life support systems featuring a high degree of closure and biotechnological components are presented. A year-long experiment has proved the possibility for Man to stay in a closed artificial environment for a long time by consuming substances regenerated by physico-chemical means from the end products of life. A complex of the life support systems (LSS) on Mir space station allowing for oxygen and 90% water recovery as well as its future updating is considered.

Development of closed life support systems for water recovery, oxygen generation and food processing is achievable in the future. However, currently the possibility of partial reproduction of food components from metabolic products and biocomplex waste should be taken into account when advanced life support system development is under consideration. Studies on carbohydrate synthesis from products of life are of particular interest because carbohydrates hold the first place in terms of mass in the food. The paper discusses possible ways of carbohydrate synthesis by physical/chemical means. Separate stages of a carbohydrate synthesis process are considered.

The Regenerative Atmosphere Revitalization and Monitoring system (ARMS), been part of Integrated Life Support System (ILSS), is intended for maintenance in the manned modules of a necessary chemical composition of an artificial gas atmosphere (AGA) on base of the crew metabolism product transform to environment initial components. Generally, the ARMS structure includes the individual systems and units intended for: → oxygen generation; → carbon dioxide removal and it concentration; → trace contaminants removal; → carbon dioxide reduction with the goal to produce an additional quantity of water necessary to increase the degree of the oxygen loop clousure. The ARMS structure of the International Space Station (ISS) Russian Segment (RS) includes the Electron-VM Oxygen Generation System (OGS), Vozdukh Carbon Dioxide Removal System (CDRS) and SBMP Trace Contaminants Removal Means (TCRM) installed in the Service Module.