title: An overview:  recycling nutrients from crop residues for space applications.
abstract: Without some form of regenerative life support system, long duration space habitation or travel will be limited severely by the prohibitive costs of resupplying air, water, and food from Earth. Components under consideration for inclusion in a regenerative life support system are based on either physicochemical or biological processes. Physicochemical systems would use filtration and elemental phase changes to convert waste materials into usable products, while biological systems would use higher plants and bioreactors to supply crew needs. Neither a purely biological nor strictly a physicochemical approach can supply all crew needs, thus, the best each approach can offer will be combined into a hybrid regenerative life support system. Researchers at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Advanced Life Support Breadboard Project have taken the lead on bioregenerative aspects of space life support. The major focus has been on utilization of higher plants for production of food, oxygen, and clean water. However, a key to any regenerative life support system is recycling and recovery of resources (wastes). In keeping with the emphasis at KSC on bioregenerative systems and with the focus on plants, this paper focuses on research with biologically-based options for resource recovery from inedible crop residues.
authors.affiliation: Dynamac Corp., Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Strayer
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Atkinson
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003470:Culture Media; D018504:Ecological Systems, Closed; D008021:Life Support Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008903:Minerals / Q000032:analysis; D011198:Solanum tuberosum; D013026:Space Flight / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014908:Triticum; D014481:United States; D018557:United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*; D014893:Weightlessness
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D008903:Minerals