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The NASA Orbiter was designed with the ability to store a limited amount of wastewater on board. Due to several factors including the storage capacity of the waste tank, the number of crew members onboard, and the length of a mission, the Orbiter must vent wastewater overboard at regular intervals. During a typical Orbiter mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Orbiter must vent a significant amount of wastewater at least once during the docked timeframe. A future ISS program requirement that affects the Orbiter while docked, is elimination of wastewater venting, specifically urine, once the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) is added to the orbiting facility. A working group was developed to address elimination of orbiter wastewater venting with members from both the Orbiter and ISS programs. Multiple options exist to meet this requirement.

Food heating concepts were investigated as part of the International Space Station Galley development effort, which culminated in testing the Conduction Oven Tray proof of concept prototype. The first step of the investigation was to determine what heating concepts best suited the myriad of requirements imposed on the Galley Food Heating System (FHS). Major FHS requirements include power limits, daily energy limits, waste heat limits, the ability to heat frozen and ambient foods, and the ability to accommodate variable food package geometries. The review of microwave, convection, conduction, radiation (or light or infrared), steam, and combination oven types with respect to the ISS Galley application are detailed in an Oven Performance Matrix. Results presented in the Oven Performance Matrix show the top three oven type candidates are conduction oven, convection oven, and conduction/convection oven combination.

A Bioregenerative Planetary Life Support Test Complex, BIO-Plex, is currently being constructed at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX. This facility will attempt to answer the questions involved in assembling a lunar or planetary base. Long duration space missions require development of both a Transit Food System and a Lunar or Planetary Food System. These two systems are intrinsically different since the first one will be utilized in the transit vehicle in microgravity conditions while the second will be used in conditions of partial gravity (hypogravity). The Transit Food System will consist of prepackaged food with an extended shelf life of 3–5 years. It will be supplemented with salad crops that will be consumed fresh. The Lunar or Planetary Food System will allow for food processing of crops in the presence of some gravitational force (1/6 to 1/3 that of Earth).

In preparation for future planetary exploration, the Bioregenerative Planetary Life Support Systems Test Complex (BIO-Plex) is currently being built at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The BIO-Plex facility will allow for closed chamber Earth-based tests. Various prepackaged food systems are being considered for the first 120-day BIO-Plex test. These food systems will be based on the Shuttle Training Menu and the International Space Station (ISS) Assembly Complete food systems. This paper evaluates several prepackaged food system options for the surface portion of an early Mars mission, based on plans for the first BIO-Plex test. The five systems considered are listed in Table 1. The food system options are assessed using equivalent system mass (ESM), which evaluates each option based upon the mass, volume, power, cooling and crewtime requirements.