Optimal Structure of Plant Conveyor for Human Life Support in a Closed Ecosystem “Bios-3”

Abstract

“Bios-3” experimental facility is designed to study different versions of closed ecological systems (CES) for human life support. Principal functions of regenerating environment for human in this facility are performed by a higher plant conveyor. The conveyor technique of plant cultivation is determined by the requirement of relative stability (in CES) of such conditions as CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, uniform time distribution of labor expenditures to till the plants, and uniform supply of food products reproduced by the plants. This is accomplished by endowing the plant conveyor with a certain age structure; its implementation and calculation technique is the subject of this report. The species structure of the plant conveyor in CES is a more complicated problem. The resolution of this problem is aimed to meet human food requirements by optimizing plant growing technologies suitable for CES. Issues for consideration include admissible level of vegetarianizing the human diet, traditional types of nutrition (European, Oriental, Northern, etc.), and the need and feasibility of correcting the ration by certain prestored components, etc. This paper considers several versions of multi-species conveyor structures implemented in 2–5 months-long experiments in “man higher plants” CES. These versions yielded fairly good results In supplying humans with oxygen, water and almost all vegetable products. These results suggest possible avenues to improve further the CES plant conveyor in accordance with chosen criteria for optimizing the human diet and plant growing technologies, primarily with the plant cultivation illumination mode.