Design Status of ARES Closed-Loop Air Revitalization System for Accommodation on the ISS

During the last years extensive work has been done to design and develop the Closed Loop Air Revitalization System ARES. The potential of ARES for future space exploration missions is to significantly reduce the water upload demand, increase the safety of the crew by reducing dependency on re-supply flights and due to the launch mass restraints - make future exploration missions to other planets possible. Past years’ activities concentrated on the development of a full-scale demonstrator which was in form, fit, and function comparable to an ‘engineering model’ (EM). Most equipment was off-the-shelf and has been mechanically upgraded to EM standard. The demonstrator includes the functions of CO₂ concentration, CO₂ reduction and oxygen generation. All components fit into one ISPR. The design minimizes the number of external interfaces in order to achieve a high degree of independence and flexibility. Design baseline for the development was the accommodation in NODE 3 of the ISS.

The paper describes the current development status and reports assembly and system test results and describes the current and future work within the development process.