The NASA OCEAN project--an ocean-space analog

An advanced life support system (ALS) with bioregenerative components may one day be required for long-term, deep space exploration, in extended missions to Mars or in establishing long-term bases on the moon. Intensive research programs on such ALS systems have been ongoing throughout the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since 1988. Notably, projects have been initiated at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Ames Research Center (ARC), and the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC). The KSC ALS work has been named the "Breadboard Project" because of its approach developing the components and combining them into a breadboard to understanding the bioregenerative ALS picture [also called a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS)] in smaller pieces, similar to an electronic "breadboard." The Breadboard Project has been involved for 7 years in the study of higher crops grown in a 113 m3 chamber--the longest operating and largest such closed, controlled growth chamber in the world. This chamber has proven itself to be very successful in growing a wide variety of crops from seedlings to harvest and in helping researchers understand the complex biological cycle of such edible plants in closed, environmentally controlled environments. Because the system's ultimate use will be a more challenging environment, moving a specially designed piece of the system into extreme conditions was an important test. Engineers at KSC developed a compact, portable, functional plant module for testing in the world's only fixed seafloor laboratory at Key Largo, FL. The laboratory, called MarineLab, is operated out of the facilities of the Marine Resources Development Foundation in a lagoon of some 10 m depth. The project was called the OCEAN project (Ocean CELSS Experimental Analog NASA).