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The establishment of a human-tended lunar base requires an autonomous bioregenerative life support system. Bioregeneration within a Lunar Engineered Closed/Controlled EcoSystem (LECCES) can be realized by integrating humans, plants, animals, and waste treatment subsystems. This integration incorporates physical/chemical and biological waste treatment processes that minimize resupply requirements from Earth. A LECCES top-level system integration model is developed based on human metabolic massflow requirements. The proposed model is presented and its components are discussed.

Long-term human missions in space, establishment of a human-tended lunar base and of a Martian base requires an autonomous life support system. An Engineered Closed/Controlled Ecosystem (ECCES) can provide autonomy by integrating a human module with support plant and animal modules and waste treatment subsystems. Integration of physical/chemical and biological waste treatment subsystems can lead to a viable and operational bioregenerative system through minimizing resupply requirements from Earth. Life support requirements of the human module “drive” the design and operation an ECCES. A top-level diagram for an ECCES was developed based on the human module requirements. The proposed top-level diagram is presented and its components are discussed.

As space missions become longer in duration, the need to recycle waste into useful compounds rises dramatically. This problem can be addressed through the integration of human and plant modules in an ecological life support system. One of the waste streams leaving the human module is urine. In addition to the reclamation of water from urine, recovery of the nitrogen is important because it can be used as a nutrient for the plant module. A 3-step biological process for the conversion of nitrogenous waste (urea) to resource (nitrate) is proposed. Mathematical modeling was used to investigate the bioreactor system, with the goal of maximizing the ratio of performance to volume and energy requirements. Calculations show that separation of the two microbial conversions into two steps requires a smaller total reactor volume than combining them in a single bioreactor.

A BRIC (Biological Research In a Canister) experiment to investigate the effects of reduced gravity at the molecular level using Arabidopsis has been initiated. To ensure an efficient BRIC experiment, a series of ground-based studies have been conducted. These studies were designed to determine: 1) the ideal seed density to obtain enough plant tissue from a single canister; 2) optimum germination surface for tissue recovery after freezing in liquid nitrogen; 3) yield and quality of mRNA from small amounts of tissue; 4) time point to freeze the seedlings; and 5) changes in gene expression that may be caused by stresses during launch.