A Simulation Approach to Minimize Water Supply, Water Storage Capacity, and Water Treatment Capacity Requirements in an Advanced Life Support System for Mars Missions

Abstract

In this study, the relationship among crewmembers and crops water consumption and production, water treatment capacity, water storage tank capacity, and water supply required from Earth is explored. Two mission durations and two scenarios are studied to investigate the impact of mission duration and crops addition, respectively, on water subsystem cost. Results show that increase in water treatment capacity can effectively reduce water storage tank equivalent system mass (ESM) to a certain extent. Mission duration affects water storage tank ESM unless water removal technology and in situ resource utilization (ISRU) are added into the crewmembers-only and crewmembers-and-crops scenarios, respectively, in addition to the water treatment process at optimal capacity. Although the results are system specifi c, it demonstrates that trade study analysis can be performed to evaluate the trade off of water treatment technologies, water removal technologies, and ISRU technologies against water storage tank and supply using ESM.