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Plants can be grown in space to support human life, providing food, and regenerating water and air. Various groups have demonstrated that plants can support human life on the ground, and that plants can grow in space. One would suppose that plants are also able to support human life in space, though obviously it would be a good idea to demonstrate that ability before committing to a mission requiring bioregeneration. However, plant growth in space requires that we provide the necessary conditions for growth, and this might require not only providing water and fertilizer as we do in terrestrial agriculture, but also a controlled environment and lighting. This would make crops much more costly than we are accustomed to on Earth, where the majority of crops are grown outside and where natural sunlight is generally adequate. On the other hand, providing food, air, and water in space by any other means is also costly.

The relationship between the duration and location of a manned space mission and significant life support resource costs is considered. These costs include mass, pressurized volume, energy, cooling and manpower. They are converted to common mass units (equivalent mass), and the probable range of values addressed. R&D and fabrication costs are hard to estimate and are not considered here, nor are any political constraints. With high equivalencies (e.g., cheap power), the relative effect of equipment mass is increased and in consequence the cost-effectiveness of bioregenerative life support rises dramatically.