convert ammonia to nitrite. Small tomatoes (Micro-Tina) will be used as higher
plants. The seeds will be germinated under low-gravity conditions such as 0.16 g
(moon) and 0.38 g (Mars) for 6 months each. During the experiment the ion
concentration in the liquid flow will be determined by ion chromatography and
Euglena will be subjected to molecular biology analysis.
8.6 MELISSA
In a regenerative life support system a higher plant compartment was planned for the
MIR station to grow vegetables which have the additional advantage of using exhaled
carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, reclaim water and provide food for astronauts
during extended space travel (Tri et al. 1991). In a European development a loop of
interconnected bioreactors has been developed in order to provide life support in
space called Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELISSA). It
consists of four bioreactors plus a compartment for higher plants (Godia et al.
2002). One reactor contains a packed bed working with an immobilized culture of
Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter and an external loop gas-lift photobioreactor for the
cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. In order to proof that Spirulina can be used as
food, groups of five rats were fed for 16 weeks with a diet supplemented with 0–40%
dried cyanobacteria as protein source (Tranquille et al. 1994).
In order to improve the stability and safety each compartment has its local control
system; in addition, the functioning takes into account the status of the other compartments and the global desired functioning point which determines the setpoints of
each compartment based on a non-linear predictive model strategy (Fulget et al.
1999). This system is under the directive of the European Space Agency (ESA) and
the MELISSA pilot plant facility has been re-designed and extended as a pilot plant
facility and a test-bed for advanced life support systems in order to study the
robustness and stability of the continuous operation of a complex biological system
(Gòdia et al. 2004). In addition to testing the instrumentation, chemical and microbial
safety of the system as well as tracking the genetic stability of the microbial strains
was important in order to warrant stable life support systems for long-term manned
missions.
The key elements are the production of food and oxygen as well as the regeneration of water from organic wastes including urine and CO 2 (Lasseur et al. 2010).
During the first 20 years of development the system has been extended to five
compartments ranging from anoxygenic, thermophilic to photo-autotrophic (higher
plants).
Thirty organizations from Europe and Canada have signed a memorandum
of understanding and the project is managed by ESA. Plants are cultivated by using
controlled environment agriculture technologies for space applications developed by
the DLR Institute of Space Systems which incorporated the evolution and design of
an environmentally-closed nutrition source research group and laboratory (Kolvenbach
8.6 MELISSA
119
plants. The seeds will be germinated under low-gravity conditions such as 0.16 g
(moon) and 0.38 g (Mars) for 6 months each. During the experiment the ion
concentration in the liquid flow will be determined by ion chromatography and
Euglena will be subjected to molecular biology analysis.
8.6 MELISSA
In a regenerative life support system a higher plant compartment was planned for the
MIR station to grow vegetables which have the additional advantage of using exhaled
carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, reclaim water and provide food for astronauts
during extended space travel (Tri et al. 1991). In a European development a loop of
interconnected bioreactors has been developed in order to provide life support in
space called Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELISSA). It
consists of four bioreactors plus a compartment for higher plants (Godia et al.
2002). One reactor contains a packed bed working with an immobilized culture of
Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter and an external loop gas-lift photobioreactor for the
cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. In order to proof that Spirulina can be used as
food, groups of five rats were fed for 16 weeks with a diet supplemented with 0–40%
dried cyanobacteria as protein source (Tranquille et al. 1994).
In order to improve the stability and safety each compartment has its local control
system; in addition, the functioning takes into account the status of the other compartments and the global desired functioning point which determines the setpoints of
each compartment based on a non-linear predictive model strategy (Fulget et al.
1999). This system is under the directive of the European Space Agency (ESA) and
the MELISSA pilot plant facility has been re-designed and extended as a pilot plant
facility and a test-bed for advanced life support systems in order to study the
robustness and stability of the continuous operation of a complex biological system
(Gòdia et al. 2004). In addition to testing the instrumentation, chemical and microbial
safety of the system as well as tracking the genetic stability of the microbial strains
was important in order to warrant stable life support systems for long-term manned
missions.
The key elements are the production of food and oxygen as well as the regeneration of water from organic wastes including urine and CO 2 (Lasseur et al. 2010).
During the first 20 years of development the system has been extended to five
compartments ranging from anoxygenic, thermophilic to photo-autotrophic (higher
plants).
Thirty organizations from Europe and Canada have signed a memorandum
of understanding and the project is managed by ESA. Plants are cultivated by using
controlled environment agriculture technologies for space applications developed by
the DLR Institute of Space Systems which incorporated the evolution and design of
an environmentally-closed nutrition source research group and laboratory (Kolvenbach
8.6 MELISSA
119