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A 48-hour manned closed environment test was carried out using the closure environmental adaptation training facility (isolation chamber) at Tsukuba Space Center of NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan), in Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, Japan. This 48-hour closed test was planned and conducted as a preliminary testing for future manned closed tests of advanced life support systems. The purposes of the test were to obtain basic data related to design requirements of regenerative life support systems, which include environmental data of air, water, waste water, and microorganisms inside the chamber, and data on human mass balance and human consumables during the test. Additionally perform integrated evaluation tests on functions and performance of Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) subsystem research models which have been fabricated and evaluated so far in independent separate tests.

This paper presents the results of data measurements for a human material balance, which were conducted as part of a 2-day manned test of a regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) in an isolation chamber. The manned test was carried out using a man-rated closed chamber operated in airtight mode at the Tsukuba Space Center of NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan), Tsukuba, Japan. A five-person Japanese test crew resided inside the isolation chamber for 48 consecutive hours, living and working along a time schedule based upon Space Shuttle and ISS activities. Data measured on human material needs and effluents included drinking water and beverages, food, urine, feces, water vapor (latent respiration and perspiration), and metabolic trace gases, which were measured directly with scales or estimated indirectly in various ways, such as measuring crew weight change, or measuring air temperature and humidity.

A Two Stage Reverse Osmosis System in combination with a Membrane Vacuum Distillation Water Processor have been the focus of research for the water reclamation subsystem within the environmental control and life support system (ECLSS). Purification tests on waste water and urine have been conducted. Reverse osmosis (RO) and membrane distillation (MD) remove a high percentage of inorganic salts, but are ineffective for removal of some organic compounds such as alcohols and organic acids. The addition of a photodegradation subsystem with TiO2 photocatalysts to this water reclamation system has potential advantages of cost performance, energy savings, and the capability to remove alcohols and organic acids. In this research, the removal of alcohols and organic acids using TiO2 photocatalysts was investigated and basic data on efficiency of the photocatalysts were acquired.

The photocatalytic oxidation of trace contaminants such as human metabolite gas and outgas from the component materials over a UV-illuminated film of titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been studied to apply for an environmental purification in manned spacecraft. The trace contaminants studied were as follows: methanol, ethanol, acetal-dehyde, toluene, acetone, methane, ethylene, ammonia, 1,4-pentadiene, hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Most of these compounds are the representative human metabolic gas. It was found that these compounds except for methane, ethylene, carbonyl sulfide, hydrogen and carbon monoxide are sufficiently removed in the photocatalytic reactor. This report describes the result of the removal test using the photocatalysts performed in National Space Development Agency of Japan/Tsukuba Space Center (NASDA / TKSC).