Development of the advanced life support Systems Integration Research Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center
Abstract
Future NASA manned missions to the moon and Mars will require development of robust regenerative life support system technologies which offer high reliability and minimal resupply. To support the development of such systems, early ground-based test facilities will be required to demonstrate integrated, long-duration performance of candidate regenerative air revitalization, water recovery, and thermal management systems. The advanced life support Systems Integration Research Facility (SIRF) is one such test facility currently being developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center. The SIRF, when completed, will accommodate unmanned and subsequently manned integrated testing of advanced regenerative life support technologies at ambient and reduced atmospheric pressures. This paper provides an overview of the SIRF project, a top-level description of test facilities to support the project, conceptual illustrations of integrated test article configurations for each of the three SIRF systems, and a phased project schedule denoting projected activities and milestones through the next several years.
- Publication:
-
SAE, 22nd International Conference on Environmental Systems
- Pub Date:
- July 1992
- Bibcode:
- 1992saei.confV....T
- Keywords:
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- Life Support Systems;
- Regeneration (Engineering);
- Systems Engineering;
- Systems Integration;
- Test Facilities;
- Air Purification;
- Research And Development;
- Temperature Control;
- Water Reclamation;
- Ground Support Systems and Facilities (Space)