An Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for Deep Space and Commercial Habitats

Date

7/12/2021

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

50th International Conference on Environmental Systems

Abstract

Long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond require an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) to have increased performance, reliability, and resiliency while still meeting mission safety requirements and remaining within volume, mass, power, cooling, and crew-time constraints. The Commercial ECLSS is an improved alternative to the baseline ECLSS technology used on the International Space Station (ISS). By combining new technologies developed and matured by Honeywell, Precision Combustion, Giner, and Paragon, the Commercial ECLSS addresses multiple capability and reliability gaps for the long-duration crewed missions described by NASA. With higher oxygen and water recovery rates, a spacecraft utilizing the Commercial ECLSS will require minimal-to-no resupply mass, which translates to significant cost savings over the course of long missions. This paper describes the team�s conceptual ECLSS architecture and identifies the significant capability and reliability gaps closed from the ISS ECLSS. Additionally, it illustrates how by avoiding the many failure modes faced by the ISS ECLSS and by incorporating modern technologies into the system, the Commercial ECLSS offers a safer, more reliable, and more cost-effective solution for commercial and NASA customers.

Description

Phoebe Henson, Honeywell Aerospace
Stephen Yates, Honeywell Aerospace
Breydan Dotson, Honeywell Aerospace
Ted Bonk, Honeywell Aerospace
Barry Finger, Paragon Space Development Corporation
Laura Kelsey, Paragon Space Development Corporation
Christian Junaedi, Precision Combustion, Inc.
Meagan Rich, Giner Inc
ICES305: Environmental and Thermal Control of Commercial and Exploration Spacecraft
The 50th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held virtually on 12 July 2021 through 14 July 2021.

Keywords

ECLSS, commercial, closed-loop

Citation