Mars life support systems

In-situ resource utilization technologies for Mars life support systems.

The atmosphere of Mars has many of the ingredients that can be used to support human exploration missions. It can be "mined" and processed to produce oxygen, buffer gas, and water, resulting in significant savings on mission costs. The use of local materials, called ISRU (for in-situ resource utilization), is clearly an essential strategy for a long-term human presence on Mars from the standpoi...

Sustainable life support on Mars – the potential roles of cyanobacteria

Even though technological advances could allow humans to reach Mars in the coming decades, launch costs prohibit the establishment of permanent manned outposts for which most consumables would be sent from Earth. This issue can be addressed by in situ resource utilization: producing part or all of these consumables on Mars, from local resources. Biological components are needed, among other rea...

Systems Integration of Systems for Life Support

Systems Integration of Systems for Life Support

Life on Mars?

Usually it takes a juicy sex scandal, a military invasion, or an airliner crash to get a story on page one of the newspapers two days in a row. But science reporters across the United States managed this feat in early August, when NASA scientists announced that they’d found “compelling evidence” of fossilized life from Mars. The story broke when a trade paper, Space News, nonchalantly published...