BIOCONVERSION SYSTEMS FOR FOOD AND WATER ON LONG-TERM SPACE MISSIONS

An imperative for prolonged Space flight missions is the conservation of resources. Extensive resupply could pose technological and logistic al challenges for those responsible for the management and successful completion of the mission. Therefore, the biological waste water recla mation system (BWWR) which requires little or no expendable supplies a nd the waste cellulose to edible mushroom conversion system (CMCS) whi ch is conceived as a low energy crop waste recycling system are protot ype instruments which have been conceived as solutions to the mission resupply problem. Out tests, conducted with relatively crude devices b ased on the original concepts, indicate that further research on the b asic principles underlying the systems and refinement of the engineeri ng designs will lead to hardware with the potential to satisfy the req uirement for minimal re-supply while providing recycled water and edib le mushrooms. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.