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Technical Paper

Application of EcosimPro to Bio-regenerative Life Support Components

2003-07-07
2003-01-2410
EcosimPro‘s capability to solve a problem domain that can be represented by Differential-Algebraic Equations (DAE) and discrete events, make it particularly attractive to model bio-regenerative life support systems. Components of the envisaged MELiSSA bio-regenerative life support system are driven by the adaptation of the biomass to changing environmental conditions, which could be of continuous nature, such as depletion or replenishment of nutrition, and discrete events, such as step changes in light fluxes and control interactions. The authors first present simulation results for a closed and an open loop bio-regenerative system. The simulations include the establishment of a quasi-steady state, reaction to step changes including a mass balance check, and the simulation of a controlled bioreactor. The results demonstrate the capability of this tool to model components of a bio-regenerative life support system, as well as an entire bio-regenerative life support system in the future.
Technical Paper

MELISSA Loop: First Estimate of Flow Rates and Concentrations through the Loop

2000-07-10
2000-01-2380
MELiSSA is a micro-organism based ecosystem conceived as a tool for understanding the behaviour of artificial ecosystems and developing the technology for a future biological life support system for long term manned space missions. The driving element of MELiSSA is the recovering of oxygen and edible biomass from waste generated by the crew (CO2, faeces, urea). MELISSA is composed of four microbial compartments. A fifth compartment, a higher plant chamber (HPC), working in parallel with the Spirulina compartment was associated to the MELiSSA loop in order to improve the diet quality for the crew.
Technical Paper

MELISSA: Behavior of the Ecosystem Under Different Light Radiant Energy Inputs

1994-06-01
941347
The MELiSSA (Microbial Ecological Life Support System Alternative) project was designed as an early model of a future artificial ecosystem for long-term space missions. It centres on the recovery of edible biomass from waste, CO2 and minerals, with direct use of light as a source of energy for photosynthesis. MELiSSA is composed of four axenic compartments colonized by microorganisms, and a fifth compartment formed by the crew on board the craft. Simulation of the entire MELiSSA loop had been performed to obtain mass fluxes and concentrations of microorganisms, and liquid and gas components in all the system streams. This first approach helped to define the process conditions necessary to obtain complete recycling of nitrogen or regeneration of the atmosphere. This paper reports on the simulation of the behaviour of the loop when the photosynthetic compartment is working under various light-limiting conditions.
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