Creation of New Types of Power Supply and Life Support Systems for Spacecraft Powered by a Solar Panel

Abstract

The work of power supply and life support systems of spacecraft is completely based on consumables, delivered from Earth, the mass, and dimensions of which increase in direct proportion to the duration of the space expedition and the number of crew members. Therefore, today a power supply system is used on board a spacecraft that provides onboard electrical energy for the operation of all on-board equipment (engine, control, communications, and heating systems) by generating direct electric current using a generator, converting chemical energy into electrical energy, using fuel cells, powered by supercritical liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, delivered from Earth. The life support system, used today on the spacecraft, includes: system for regenerating water from atmospheric humidity condensate in a spacecraft cabin, a water regeneration system from urine, system of generating oxygen and hydrogen during the electrolysis of water in microgravity conditions, a system for utilizing carbon dioxide, removing harmful micro impurities, operating at the expense of internal resources spacecraft during space flight. Thus, the task arises of developing new types of power supply and life support systems, including the development of new and improvement of existing technologies for continuous charging of spacecraft fuel cells with hydrogen and oxygen, generating onboard electricity without the use of “Earth tanks” with supercritical liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, improvement of existing oxygen and hydrogen generation systems, regeneration of water from condensate of atmospheric moisture and waste products of astronauts, removal of harmful micro impurities and cultivation of rapidly multiplying microalgae on the spacecraft during a long space flight. The article presents a new type of power supply and life support systems for spacecraft, powered by a solar panel, which includes the developed new technologies: an oxygen and hydrogen gas generator, which makes it possible to economically and easily separately produce oxygen, hydrogen and drinking water to enrich the atmosphere with oxygen and replenish the drinking supplies of the spacecraft cabin, continuously charge the fuel cells of the spacecraft with hydrogen and oxygen, produced for the uninterrupted generation of onboard electricity; a separator for purification of technical wastewaters from harmful solid inclusions and pathogenic microbes and obtaining drinking water from them, regeneration of drinking water from urine, excreted by astronauts, in quantities sufficient for consumption of this water by astronauts during a long space flight; a concentrator that receives a solution with microalgae cells from a space photo bioreactor, growing microalgae under weightless conditions, which utilizes carbon dioxide released during the breathing of astronauts, produces oxygen to enrich the atmosphere of the spacecraft cabin with oxygen through photosynthesis. A concentrator permits to obtain a high-quality concentrate of cells of rapidly multiplying microalgae and supplement the crew's diet by the biggest part of this concentrate, and to replenish the space photo bioreactor with the remainder of the concentrate and nutrient solution in order to obtain enough biomass for a long space flight.