Browsing by Author "Chen, Leon"

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Enhancing Future Commercial Space Stations: Applying ISS Insights to Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) Development
(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Chen, Leon; Rivas, Joseph A.; Reuland, Cynthia L.; Walker, Stephanie V.; Rangel, Alicia G.; Williams, Davide E.
The expansion of space exploration to commercial space stations represents a shift from government-led endeavors to a new competitive era driven by private companies and innovative forces. The journey to actualize these celestial outposts is fraught with difficulties, including the intricate establishment of Environmental Control and Life Support systems (ECLSS) within these commercial space stations. By applying the insights gleaned from the ISS, particularly during the initial conceptual design phase of the commercial developments, there is an opportunity to circumvent some of the teething issues and optimize the development process. Furthermore, applying insights from the ISS ECLSS design, development, test, and maintenance phases has the potential to enhance system compatibility and mitigate the challenges associated with upgrading a fixed design. This approach can lead to lower costs due to fewer iterations and streamlined processes. This paper will conduct an in-depth evaluation of the ECLS system from both system and operational perspectives with the aim to provide a knowledge capture for early-stage design considerations to bolster the development of sustainable, efficient, and habitable commercial space stations.
Evaluating Potential Landing Regions for Artemis III: Multi-Attribute Decision-Making Framework for Power, ISRU, and Human Factors at the Lunar South Pole
(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Chen, Leon; Zhong, Jacob Z.; Weeresinghe, Rachel L.; Balchanos, Michael; Mavris, Dimitri N.
In 2022, NASA identified 13 regions around the lunar South Pole as candidates for the Artemis III lunar landing site based on various criteria and scientific objectives. In the future, NASA plans to establish an Artemis Base Camp in the lunar South Pole region at an as yet undetermined location. As NASA and other stakeholders establish a long-term lunar surface presence, the importance of location selection cannot be understated. This effort seeks to develop a framework that integrates various factors to support the lunar surface location selection process. The first task is to consolidate available lunar surface data--such as maps of potential resource availability, illumination, temperatures, topography, and surface location access delta-v cost--into a unified lunar surface model. The second task is to propagate the impact of location to derive secondary factors and constraints related to surface system design and crew. Examples of secondary location factors include proximity to potential resources, proximity to permanently shadowed or lit regions, and landing site suitability. Another example is suitability for human habitation, which depends on location factors such as flatness, proximity to ice deposits, available illumination, temperature, radiation exposure, etc. Constraints on possible locations can be obtained based on these factors. As one example, environmental control and life support (ECLS) requirements for water and or propellant requirements for refueling lunar landers become requirements for ISRU production. To meet ISRU production requirements, locations must be in close proximity to available ice deposits, imposing constraints on potential locations. The power needed to supply ISRU and other systems, if supplied by solar arrays, is dependent on available illumination and thus location, resulting in another constraint on potential locations. The final goal is to combine all the factors and constraints into a parametric multi-attribute decision-making framework to support lunar surface location selection.