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In support of the Constellation Program, NASA conducted an analysis of crew clothing and laundry options. Disposable clothing is currently used in human space missions. However, the new mission duration, goals, launch penalties and habitat environments may lead to a different conclusion. Mass and volume for disposable clothing are major penalties in long-duration human missions. Equivalent System Mass (ESM) of crew clothing and hygiene towels was estimated at about 11% of total life support system ESM for a 4-crew, 10-year Lunar Outpost mission. Ways to lessen this penalty include: reduce clothing supply mass through using clothes made of advanced fabrics, reduce daily usage rate by extending wear duration and employing a laundry with reusable clothing. Lunar habitat atmosphere pressure and therefore oxygen volume percentage will be different from Space Station or Shuttle. Thus flammability of clothing must be revisited.

Exploration Life Support (ELS) is a technology development project under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Exploration Technology Development Program. The ELS Project's goal is to develop and mature a suite of Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) technologies for potential use on human spacecraft under development in support of U.S. Space Exploration Policy. Technology development is directed at three major vehicle projects within NASA's Constellation Program: the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the Altair Lunar Lander and Lunar Surface Systems, including habitats and pressurized rovers. The ELS Project includes four technical elements: Atmosphere Revitalization Systems, Water Recovery Systems, Waste Management Systems and Habitation Engineering, and two cross cutting elements, Systems Integration, Modeling and Analysis, and Validation and Testing.

With the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle planned to be completed in 2009, Exploration Life Support (ELS), a technology development project under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Exploration Technology Development Program, is focusing its efforts on needs for human lunar missions. The ELS Project's goal is to develop and mature a suite of Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) technologies for potential use on human spacecraft under development in support of U.S. Space Exploration Policy. ELS technology development is directed at three major vehicle projects within NASA's Constellation Program (CxP): the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the Altair Lunar Lander and Lunar Surface Systems, including habitats and pressurized rovers.

In an era of tight fiscal constraints, research and development funds are not sufficient to study all possible avenues for technology development. Hence, development priorities must be set and funding decisions made based on the projected benefits which will arise from fully developing different technologies. In order to identify promising development initiatives for advanced thermal control systems, a study was conducted which quantified the potential mass savings of various technologies. Assessments were made for five reference missions considered to be likely candidates for major human space flight initiatives beyond the International Space Station. The reference missions considered were Space Station Evolution, Space Shuttle Replacement, First Lunar Outpost Lander, Permanent Lunar Base, and Mars Lander. For each mission a baseline active thermal control system was defined and mass estimates were established.

Work defining advanced life support (ALS) technologies and evaluating their applicability to various long-duration missions has continued. Time-dependent and time-invariant costs have been estimated for a variety of life support technology options, including International Space Station (ISS) environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) technologies and improved options under development by the ALS Project. These advanced options include physicochemical (PC) and bioregenerative (BIO) technologies, and may in the future include in-situ-resource utilization (ISRU) in an attempt to reduce both logistics costs and dependence on supply from Earth. PC and bioregenerative technologies both provide possibilities for reducing mission equivalent system mass (ESM). PC technologies are most advantageous for missions of up to several years in length, while bioregenerative options are most appropriate for longer missions. ISRU can be synergistic with both PC and bioregenerative options.