A strategy for the development and selection of waste management options for spacecraft and planetary bases

There is a requirement for safe, economic processing and storage of wastes generated on board a manned spacecraft or planetary base. A Waste Management Strategy flowsheet has been developed as a standardized methodology to identify and compare alternative management strategies for all wastes and to select appropriate technologies for their processing and storage. Using Reference Wastes and Missions, the resulting detailed Waste Management flowsheets illustrate how technology requirements can change in response to criteria defined for the missions, stability (particularly its potential for biodeterioration) of the waste with time and the quantities generated.