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A porous plate sublimator (an existing Lunar Module design) is being evaluated as the heat sink for the X-38 vehicle due to its simplicity, reliability, and flight readiness. It is ideally suited for the X-38/CRV as it requires no active control, has no moving parts, has 100 % water usage efficiency, and is a well-proven technology. This paper presents sublimator performance, including ground test data at CRV conditions, at both a component and system level. Potential sublimator modifications which could allow significant CRV ECLSS system simplification, reliability enhancement, and cost reduction are also discussed.

The TIMES is an evaporative water processor which has shown great theoretical potential for providing reliable and efficient production of high quality water. The test results of the system have however fallen short of the predicted performances. A thorough systems analysis has identified the condensing heat exchanger as a primary source of the shortcomings of the assembly. This condenser, along with three other heat exchangers in the system, have been redesigned and integrated into a new “Regenerator” that is predicted to significantly lower the power consumption and improve both the operating stability and product water quality.

The generation (and recovery) of water, rather than the reduction of CO2, drives the requirements for the integration of a Sabatier CO2 Reduction Subsystem (SCRS) within an Air Revitalization Subsystem (ARS). It is important, therefore, to understand the system level decisions that impact the water production capability of the Sabatier CO2 Reduction Subsystem. This paper defines each of the operational parameters that affect water production and loss and explores the impact they each have on total water recovery. The particular subsystem parameters examined include hydrogen and carbon dioxide flow rates, feed gas composition, subsystem operating pressure, condensing heat exchanger performance, heat sink temperature, and phase separator performance. Each of these has a minor contribution to the amount of water lost from the system, but combined, their effect is substantial.