Subscale Air Revitalization System by CO ₂ Reduction for Small Satellite Demonstration

A regenerative Air Revitalization system has been developed by JAXA. Its major assemblies are a CO₂ concentration assembly which contains membrane dryers to remove humidity and zeolite to remove CO₂, a CO₂ reduction assembly, and a water electrolysis assembly to which water is supplied in the vapor phase through molecule-size pores in a NAFION membrane rather than as liquid to solve the problem of gas-liquid separation in microgravity conditions. A small satellite mission using a subscale air revitalization system (for 1/10 person) is planned as an orbital demonstration of solving microgravity-related problems, interface problems between assembly, compaction problems and saving energy design. A small satellite is used because it has a greater chance of being selected for flight than ISS experiments, and it will be useful for mission assurance to perform small satellite experiments before an ISS manned mission.