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There is a requirement for safe, economic processing and storage of wastes generated on board a manned spacecraft or planetary base. A Waste Management Strategy flowsheet has been developed as a standardized methodology to identify and compare alternative management strategies for all wastes and to select appropriate technologies for their processing and storage. Using Reference Wastes and Missions, the resulting detailed Waste Management flowsheets illustrate how technology requirements can change in response to criteria defined for the missions, stability (particularly its potential for biodeterioration) of the waste with time and the quantities generated.

Manned activity within a closed environment will generate a variety of wastes, both stable and potentially biodegradable. The wastes can never be totally eliminated: waste management aims to make a change of form which is both advantageous in terms of volume and hazard reduction and which does not compromise crew health and safety. Micro-organisms will be carried on board by the crew and will be present in the wastes. The fundamental philosophy of our waste management concept is to specifically exclude or specifically include this inherent microbial activity. The complete safe stabilization of waste requires its exclusion while the ultimate need of element recycle will rely on microbial conversion processes.