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The establishment of a human-tended lunar base requires an autonomous bioregenerative life support system. Bioregeneration within a Lunar Engineered Closed/Controlled EcoSystem (LECCES) can be realized by integrating humans, plants, animals, and waste treatment subsystems. This integration incorporates physical/chemical and biological waste treatment processes that minimize resupply requirements from Earth. A LECCES top-level system integration model is developed based on human metabolic massflow requirements. The proposed model is presented and its components are discussed.

Closed ecological life support systems incorporating plants represent the only potential for achieving self-sufficiency in an extraterrestrial biosphere. A model of input/output metabolic mass flow rates for a plant module in an Engineered Closed/Controlled EcoSystem is presented. Wheat crop was chosen as a case study for modeling metabolic mass flow rates. Coefficients for the mass flow rates, for each metabolic element, are determined per unit area of wheat production. The coefficients are utilized to compute the area of edible biomass production necessary to accommodate human food requirements. This model for computing metabolic mass flow rates can be applied for any crop under specified growing conditions.

Life Support Systems are the most critical aspect of human space exploration. Future long-term missions, such as the establishment of human-tended Lunar and Martian bases, require autonomous life support systems. A conceptual model of an Engineered Closed Controlled EcoSystem (ECCES) is presented. An ECCES provides bioregenerative capabilities by integrating human and plant modules within a waste management system (WMS). The integration of physical/chemical (P/C) and biological waste treatment processes as feedback components is suitable for supporting plant growth through hydroponics and materially closing the human and plant metabolic inputs and outputs. This top level design separates wastes into individual loops for treatment according to the specific metabolic needs of humans and plants. The means through which an integrated ECCES meets the objectives of long-term space habitation are summarized.