The Biomass Production System for the Bioregenerative Planetary Life Support Systems Test Complex: Preliminary Designs and Considerations

The Biomass Production System (BPS) is one of seven life support systems which make up the advanced life support system planned for the Bioregenerative Planetary Life Support Systems Test Complex (BIO-Plex), a large-scale human-rated test facility under development at NASA Johnson Space Center. The chief goal of the BPS is to support food crop production from propagation and seeding to the harvest and storage of raw agricultural products. The BPS will utilize two Biomass Production Chambers (BPC1 & BPC2) that will be internally outfitted with systems to grow plants, optimized for yield per unit of area and volume. In the preliminary design described here, BPC1 will have 82 m² of area for crop growth, yielding a volume to area ratio of 2.3 m³ m⁻². This paper provides a description of preliminary designs, with focus on BPC1.