Update on Feasibility of UV LEDs in a Spacecraft Wastewater Tank Application

Date
2020-07-31
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems
Abstract

As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) expands its scope and begins to venture into long-duration manned space flights, the function and maintenance of spacecraft water systems becomes increasingly critical and difficult to achieve. New mission requirements will limit opportunities for resupply and demand extended periods of dormancy during uncrewed operations. Based on lessons learned from the International Space Station (ISS), one particular challenge of future spacecraft water systems will be maintaining adequate microbial control, especially in water system and component-level elements where effective biocontrol strategies do not currently exist. To ensure the reliability and redundancy in these systems, new technologies will be needed in order to ensure mission success. One application specific microbial control technology under consideration is the use of ultra-violet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs). UV-LED technology may reduce the need for consumable resupply, such as filters or biocides, and may minimize crew time associated with the repair and refurbishment of exhausted and/or compromised components and/or systems. Having recently proved preliminary feasibility of commercial off the shelf (COTS) UV-LED devices in a number of spacecraft water system applications, this paper reports on the development of this technology for microbial control in the water processing assembly (WPA) wastewater tank application. The resulting data from this study will be are part of on going efforts to explore the use of UV-LED technology to increase the stability of water systems as deep space missions drive requirements toward more stringent needs for sterility and microbial control.

Description
Niklas Adam, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), US
Michael Callahan, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), US
Audry Almengor, KBRwyle, US
Nikki Gilbert, KBRwyle, US
Jacob Harris, KBRwyle, US
Javier Jimenez, KBRwyle, US
Anthony Hanford, Jacobs Engineering, US
Katherine Toon, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), US
ICES303: Physio-Chemical Life Support- Water Recovery & Management Systems- Technology and Process Development
The proceedings for the 2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems were published from July 31, 2020. The technical papers were not presented in person due to the inability to hold the event as scheduled in Lisbon, Portugal because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Keywords
Water, Disinfection, Biofilm control, Life support, Ultraviolet light
Citation