Metabolic Heat Regenerated Temperature Swing Adsorption

Two fundamental problems facing the development of a portable system to sustain life on extraterrestrial surfaces are (1) heat rejection and (2) rejection of metabolically produced CO2 to an environment with a ppCO2 of 0.4 to 0.9 kPa as is present on Mars. Portable life support systems typically use water for heat rejection via sublimation. Consequently, the water is removed from the life support system and into the surrounding environment after use. This wastes a valuable resource required for human life that is expensive to transport from Earth. Furthermore, rejecting the water vapor to the surrounding environment contaminates it, severely interfering with any search for life on extraterrestrial surfaces. A portable life support system should be able to use a variety of fluids for heat rejection, especially liquid CO2, as it can be easily acquired and cheaply stored on the surface of Mars. The use of liquid CO2 as a coolant has the advantage that it will not interfere with scientific investigations by contaminating the area as it is sublimated from the life support system for heat rejection.