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An ongoing effort is underway at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) to develop an On-line Project Information System (OPIS) for the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Program. The objective of this three-year project is to develop, test, revise and deploy OPIS to enhance the quality of decision-making metrics and attainment of Program goals through improved knowledge sharing. OPIS will centrally locate detailed project information solicited from investigators on an annual basis and make it readily accessible by the ALS Community via a Web-accessible interface. The data will be stored in an object-oriented relational database (created in MySQL®) located on a secure server at NASA ARC. OPIS will simultaneously serve several functions, including being an research and technology development (R&TD) status information hub that can potentially serve as the primary annual reporting mechanism for ALS-funded projects.

The use of biofilters for the control of air contaminants in Advanced Life Support (ALS) systems is currently being investigated by the Waste Processing and Resource Recovery research team of the New Jersey - NSCORT (NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training). Ammonia (NH3) was selected as a test air contaminant as it presents special challenges to the sustained operation of a biofilter. Ammonia loading to the ALS atmosphere will likely be from waste treatment (biological treatment of human, plant and food wastes) and food processing operations. This NH3 has the potential of causing adverse effects on plant growth and humans.

Newly outlined missions in the Vision for U.S. Space Exploration include extended human habitation on Mars. During these missions, large amounts of waste materials will be generated in solid, liquid and gaseous form. Returning these wastes to Earth will be extremely costly, and increase the opportunity for back contamination. Therefore, it is advantageous to investigate the potential for wastes to remain on Mars after mission completion. Untreated, these wastes are a reservoir of live/dead organisms and molecules considered “biomarkers” (i.e., indicators of life). If released to the planetary surface, these materials can potentially interfere with exobiology studies, disrupt any existent martian ecology and pose human safety concerns. Waste Management (WM) systems must therefore be specifically designed to control release of problematic materials both during the active phase of the mission, and for any specified post-mission duration.

Mixed liquid/solid wastes, including feces, water processor effluents, and food waste, can be lyophilized (freeze-dried) to recover the water they contain and stabilize the solids that remain. Our previous research has demonstrated the potential benefits of using thermoelectric heat pumps to build a lyophilizer for processing waste in microgravity. These results were used to build a working prototype suitable for ground-based human testing. This paper describes the prototype design and presents results of functional and performance tests.

BIO-Plex is a ground-based test bed currently under development by NASA for testing technologies and practices that may be utilized in future long-term life support missions. All aspects of such an Advanced Life Support (ALS) System must be considered to confidently construct a reliable system, which will not only allow the crew to survive in harsh environments, but allow the crew time to perform meaningful research. Effective handling of solid wastes is a critical aspect of the system, especially when recovery of resources contained in the waste is required. This is particularly important for ALS Systems configurations that include a Biomass Production Chamber. In these cases, significant amounts of inedible biomass waste may be produced, which can ultimately serve as a repository of necessary resources for sustaining life, notably carbon, water, and plant nutrients. Numerous biological and physicochemical solid waste processing options have been considered.

The On-line Project Information System (OPIS) is a LAMP-based (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) system being developed at NASA Ames Research Center to improve Agency information transfer and data availability, largely for improvement of system analysis and engineering. The tool will enable users to investigate NASA technology development efforts, connect with experts, and access technology development data. OPIS is currently being developed for NASA's Exploration Life Support (ELS) Project. Within OPIS, NASA ELS Managers assign projects to Principal Investigators (PI), track responsible individuals and institutions, and designate reporting assignments. Each PI populates a “Project Page” with a project overview, team member information, files, citations, and images. PI's may also delegate on-line report viewing and editing privileges to specific team members. Users can browse or search for project and member information.

Distant and/or long-term missions, particularly Mars and lunar bases, will require a high degree of regenerative systems utilization. Bio-regenerative systems inherently lend themselves to integrative application, and can serve multiple processing functions in Advanced Life Support (ALS) systems. Striving for maximal use of bio-regenerative systems can reveal possibilities and relationships difficult to conceptualize within the context of a “unit process” methodology common to physico-chemical (P/C) systems. The required regenerative functions of biomass production and solid, liquid, and air processing are discussed, and a potential integrated ALS system scenario including “soil'based” plant production is developed to illustrate potential ramifications of biological (and P/C) system integration.

Advanced Life Support (ALS) systems designed for long-duration manned space missions, particularly permanent bases on the Moon or Mars, are likely to employ extensive use of regenerative closed loop systems, including the production of higher plants for food. Such systems will produce substantial amounts of inedible plant material in addition to other standard mission wastes. Composting is one of the several methods currently under investigation for waste processing and resource recovery in ALS systems. While composting is a robust microbiological process that can be utilized to treat a variety of organic materials under a wide range of environmental conditions, both feedstock preparation and process control require optimization. For instance, initial waste feedstock composition, carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N), particle size, and moisture content are critical factors for ensuring optimal processing conditions and maximal rates of degradation.

The growth of Swiss chard in compost, Mars regolith simulant, and mixtures thereof, was studied for application in Advanced Life Support (ALS) systems, particularly Mars/lunar based operations. The purpose was to begin characterizing a sustainable biomass production method based on compost derived from inedible biomass. Compost would serve both as a means of recycling plant nutrients while improving the physical qualities of regolith as a plant growth medium. An outpost’s cropping area could be expanded by blending a minimal amount of compost (scarce, initially imported resource) and a maximal amount of regolith (plentiful local resource), consistent with adequate crop yields. Swiss chard was selected for the study as it is an ALS crop candidate for which there are little data.

Handling and processing human feces in space habitats is a major concern and needs to be addressed for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) as well as for future exploration activities. In order to ensure crew health and safety, feces should either be isolated in a dried form to prevent microbial activity, or be processed to yield a non-biohazardous product using a reliable technology. During laboratory testing of new feces processing technologies, use of “real” feces can impede progress due to practical issues such as safety and handling thereby limiting experimental investigations. The availability of a non-hazardous simulant or analogue of feces can overcome this limitation. Use of a simulant can speed up research and ensure a safe laboratory environment. At Ames Research Center, we have undertaken the task of developing human fecal simulants. In field investigations, human feces show wide variations in their chemical/physical composition.

Since the mid 1980s, NASA has developed advanced waste management technologies that collect and process waste. These technologies include incineration, hydrothermal oxidation, pyrolysis, electrochemical oxidation, activated carbon production, brine dewatering, slurry bioreactor oxidation, composting, NOx control, compaction, and waste collection. Some of these technologies recover resources such as water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon, fuels, and nutrients. Other technologies such as the Waste Collection System (WCS - the commode) collect waste for storage or processing. The need for waste processing varies greatly depending upon the mission scenario. This paper reviews the waste management technology development activities conducted by NASA since the mid 1980s and explores the drivers that determine the application of these technologies to future missions.