Human Life Support During Interplanetary Travel and Domicile Part V: Mars Expedition Technology Trade Study for Solid Waste Management

A model has been developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to quantitatively compare and select life support systems and technology options. The model consists of a modular, top-down hierarchical breakdown of the life support system into subsystems, and further breakdown of subsystems into functional elements representing individual processing technologies. A series of papers titled “Human Life Support During Interplanetary Travel and Domicile” was planned to describe the technique and results. Parts I,II, III, and IV have been presented at previous ICES conferences. This paper includes the technology trades for a Mars mission, using solid waste treatment technologies to recover water from selected liquid and solid waste streams. Technologies include freeze drying, thermal drying, wet oxidation, combustion, and supercritical-water oxidation. The use of these technologies does not have any significant advantages with respect to weight; however, significant power penalties are incurred. A benefit is the ability to convert hazardous waste into a useful resource: water.