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A preliminary design of a Life Support System (LSS) has been developed as part of an ongoing comprehensive trade study of advanced processor technologies and system architectures for an Initial Lunar Outpost. The design is based on a mission scenario requiring intermittent occupation of a lunar surface habitat by a crew of four. It incorporates physiochemical process technologies that were considered for Space Station Freedom. A system-level simulation model of the design was developed to obtain steady-state material balances for each LSS processor. The mass flow rate predictions were used to obtain estimates of the LSS mass, volume, and power consumption by means of processor sizing correlations that were extrapolated from Space Station Freedom processor designs.

This paper compares scaleup correlations developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and at the Langley Research Center (LaRC) for various life support hardware to estimate mass, volume, and power consumption values as a function of feed or product mass flow rates. The scaleup correlations are provided for a few selected advanced life support technologies developed for the Space Station Freedom (SSF). In addition, correlation validity limits and sources of data on various life support hardware are also discussed.