[Biological processes of the human environment regeneration within the Martian crew life support systems]

Five ground-based experiments at RF SRC-IBMP had the purpose to make a thorough investigation of a model of the human-unicellular algae-mineralization life support system. The system measured 15 m3 and contained 45 liters of alga suspension; the dry alga density was 10 to 12 g/l and water volume (including the alga suspension) amounted to 59 l. More sophisticated LSS models where algae were substituted by higher plants (crop area in the greenhouse equaled 15 m2) were investigated in three experiments from 1.5 mos. to 2 mos. in duration. It was found that the alga containing LSS was able to fulfill not only the macrofunction (air and water regeneration) but also several additional functions (air purification, establishment of microbial cenosis etc.) providing an adequate human environment. This polyfunctionality of the biological regenerative processes is a weighty argument for their integration into space LSSs. Another important aspect is that the unicellular algae containing systems are highly reliable owing to a huge number of species-cells which will be quickly recovered in case of the death of a part of the population and, consequently, functionality of the LSS autotrophic component will be restored before long. For an extended period of time the Martian crew will have no communication with the Earth's biosphere which implies that LSS should be absolutely reliable and redundant. Redundancy can be achieved through installation aboard the vehicle of two systems constructed on different principles of regeneration, i.e. physical-chemical and biological. Each of the LSSs should have the power to satisfy all needs of the crew. The best option is when two systems are functioning in parallel sharing the responsibility for the human environment. Redundancy in this case will mean that in the event of failure or a drastic decrease in performance of one system the other one will make up for the loss by increasing its share in the overall regeneration process.