Stoichiometric model of a fully closed bioregenerative life support system for autonomous long-duration space missions

Bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS) are vital for long-duration and remote space missions to increase mission sustainability. These systems break down human waste materials into nutrients and CO2 for plants and other edible organisms, which in turn provide food, fresh water, and oxygen for astronauts. The central idea is to create a...

What horticulture and space exploration can learn from each other: The Mission to Mars initiative in the Netherlands

The horticulture sector in the Netherlands is a global leader due to technological advancements, knowledge of greenhouse cultivation with high productivities and low resource usage, and entrepreneurship. The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of vegetables in the world, and more than half of its land area is used for agriculture with...

Modeling and simulating a regenerative life support system to understand the effects of system interaction on survivability during deep space missions: An agent-based approach

To enable sustainable long-duration human space flight, regenerative life support systems (RLSS) will be indispensable. Waste materials will need to be processed and transformed back into nutrients for life-supporting ecosystems. MELiSSA (Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative) is a well-documented and studied example of such an...

Simulating the construction of conceptual space architecture to explore the potential of combined asteroid mining and space-based 3d manufacturing

Space-based manufacturing is considered a crucial next step for the further development of human settlement in space. There are vast quantities of building resources distributed throughout space, with asteroids among the most apparent candidates for large-scale mining and resource provision. In this presentation, we present a hybrid...

What horticulture and space exploration can learn from each other: The Mission to Mars initiative in the Netherlands

The horticulture sector in the Netherlands is a global leader due to technological advancements, knowledge of greenhouse cultivation with high productivities and low resource usage, and entrepreneurship. The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of vegetables in the world, and more than half of its land area is used for agriculture with...

The Space Farming Project: Space colonization, techno-agriculture and the future of extraterrestrial biopolitics

In order to sustain human life for extended periods of time in deep space one cannot solely rely on support from Earth. It'll be essential to become self-sustaining through a combination of in situ resource utilization, waste recycling, and space farming. The latter can provide astronauts and colonists with locally grown food and biogenic...

Evolving Asteroid Starships: A bio-inspired approach for interstellar space systems

The hostile and unpredictable environment of deep space requires a new conceptual approach for interstellar flight, one that differs radically from any current design in aerospace. A design solution is proposed in which the starship is attached to a C-type asteroid and whose architecture evolves over time. The starship gradually mines...