Integration of Nitrifying, Photosynthetic and Animal Compartments at the MELiSSA Pilot Plant

MELiSSA (Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative) is developing bioregenerative Life Support technologies for long-term Space missions. The MELiSSA concept is conceived as a loop with several compartments, each one performing a specific function, providing all together edible material produ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in astronomy and space sciences 2021-10, Vol.8
Main Authors: Garcia-Gragera, David, Arnau, Carolina, Peiro, Enrique, Dussap, Claude-Gilles, Poughon, Laurent, Gerbi, Olivier, Lamaze, Brigitte, Lasseur, Christophe, Godia, Francesc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
bioreactors
Chemical and Process Engineering
Continuous operation
Engineering Sciences
Limnospira indica
Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative
Nitrobacter winogradsky
Nitrosomonas europaea
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Summary:MELiSSA (Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative) is developing bioregenerative Life Support technologies for long-term Space missions. The MELiSSA concept is conceived as a loop with several compartments, each one performing a specific function, providing all together edible material production, atmosphere regeneration and water recovery with a concomitant use of wastes, i.e., CO 2 and organic wastes. Each one of the compartments is colonized with specific bacteria or higher plants depending on its specific function. The MELiSSA Pilot Plant is a facility designed for the terrestrial demonstration of this concept, hosting laboratory rats as a crew mock-up mimicking the respiration of humans. Currently, the MELiSSA Pilot Plant focus on the integration of three compartments: Compartment 3 (nitrifying packed-bed bioreactor based on the co-culture of immobilized Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradsky ), compartment 4a (an air-lift photobioreactor for the culture of the edible cyanobacteria Limnospira indica with concomitant oxygen production) and Compartment 5 (an animal isolator with rats as mock-up crew). The output from these tests shows a high robustness and reliability and the performance of oxygen producing and oxygen consuming compartments is successfully demonstrated under transitory and steady-state conditions. This contribution reports on the current state of development of the MELiSSA Pilot Plant Facility and the most recent results of the integration work.
ISSN:2296-987X
2296-987X
DOI:10.3389/fspas.2021.750616