A review of recent activities in the NASA CELSS program

Macelroy, R. D.; Tremor, J. W.; Smernoff, David T.; Knott, W. M.; Prince, R. P.

doi:10.1016/0273-1177(87)90032-9

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Several international space agencies and research organizations have been investigating the possibility of cultivating photosynthetic species (microalgae, cyanobacteria, and plants) on board space flights for food production, air revitalization, waste management, and water recycling (Karel, 1982;MacElroy and Bredt, 1984;MacElroy et al, 1987;Mergaey et al, 1988;Gitelson et al, 1989;Lasseur et al, 1996;Kibe et al, 1997;Perchonok et al, 2001;Farges et al, 2008;Lasseur et al, 2010;Hader, 2019;Helisch et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The CELSS was conceived with the aim of producing edible biomass from plants and microalgae (Chlorella sp.). The system also aimed to purify water, revitalize air, and recycle waste under closed-loop conditions (MacElroy et al, 1987). However, the CELSS project was soon discarded, and NASA decided to focus their life-support research on the plant compartment under the project name VEGGIE (NASA Techport, 2017;Massa et al, 2018;Monje et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ground Demonstration of the Use of Limnospira indica for Air Revitalization in a Bioregenerative Life-Support System Setup: Effect of Non-Nitrified Urine–Derived Nitrogen Sources

Sachdeva

Poughon

Gerbi³

et al. 2021

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Long-duration human space missions require considerable amounts of water, oxygen, and nutritious biomass. Additionally, the space vehicles must be well equipped to deal with metabolic human waste. It is therefore important to develop life-support systems which make these missions self-sufficient in terms of water, food, and oxygen production as well as waste management. One such solution is the employment of regenerative life-support systems that use biological and chemical/physical processes to recycle crew waste, revitalize air, and produce water and food. Photosynthetic cyanobacteria Limnospira could play a significant role in meeting these objectives. Limnospira can metabolize CO2 and nitrogen-rich human waste to produce oxygen and edible biomass. So far, life-support system studies have mainly focused on using chemical/physical methods to recycle water, degrade human waste, and recycle CO2 into oxygen. Nowadays, additional microbial processes are considered, such as nitrification of urea–ammonium–rich human waste and then using the nitrate for cyanobacterial cultivation and air vitalization. This cascade of multiple processes tends to increase the complexity of the life-support systems. The possibility of using non-nitrified urine for Limnospira cultivation can partially solve these issues. Our previous studies have shown that it is possible to cultivate Limnospira with urea and ammonium, the prominent nitrogen forms present in non-nitrified urine. In this study, we investigated the possibility of cultivating Limnospira with the different nitrogen forms present in non-nitrified urine and also evaluated their effect on the oxygen production capacity of Limnospira. For this 35-day-long study, we worked on a simplified version of the European Space Agency’s MELiSSA. During this ground demonstration study, we monitored the effect of urea and ammonium (vs. nitrate) on the oxygen production capacity of Limnospira. A deterministic control law, developed and validated on the basis of a stochastic light-transfer model, modulated (increase/decrease) the incident light on the photobioreactor (with Limnospira) to control oxygen levels in the closed loop. The CO2 from the mouse compartment was recycled as a carbon source for Limnospira. We observed that while the system could meet the desired oxygen levels of 20.3% under the nitrate and urea regime, it could only reach a maximum O2 level of 19.5% under the ammonium regime.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground Demonstration of the Use of Limnospira indica for Air Revitalization in a Bioregenerative Life-Support System Setup: Effect of Non-Nitrified Urine–Derived Nitrogen Sources

Sachdeva

Poughon

Gerbi³

et al. 2021

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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show abstract

“…It is not realistic to supply a Spaceship traveling towards Mars with all resources, in terms of food, water and oxygen, enough to fulfil the crew's needs for the years required for each mission. As a consequence, such interplanetary travels and the long permanence on Space platforms are strictly based on the development and on the efficient use of biological and physico-chemical regenerative Life Support Systems capable of sustaining the crew's needs through a continuous regeneration of resources with the objective of complete self-sufficiency (MacElroy et al 1987;Rummel and Volk 1987;Bartsev et al 1996;Wheeler et al 1996;Stutte et al 1997;Gros et al 2003;Tikhomirov et al 2007). Physico-chemical Life Support Systems can provide oxygen, reduce carbon dioxide and recycle water, whereas biological Life Support Systems (plants, bacteria, algae, etc.)…”

Section: Experiments On Pollen Tube Development Of Herbaceous and Woomentioning

confidence: 99%