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Encyclopedia > Life support system

In human spaceflight, the life support system is a group of devices that allow a human being to survive in outer space. NASA often uses the phrase Environmental Control and Life Support System or the acronym ECLSS when describing these systems for its human spaceflight missions.[1] The life support system may supply: air, water and food. It must also maintain the correct body temperature, an acceptable pressure on the body and deal with the body's waste products. Shielding against harmful external influences such as radiation and micro-meteorites may also be necessary. Components of the life support system are life-critical, and are designed and constructed using safety engineering techniques. Edward White on a spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States federal government, responsible for the nations public space program. ... Edward White on a spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission. ... Look up air in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... A life-critical system or safety-critical system is a system whose failure or malfunction may result in: death or serious injury to people, or loss or severe damage to equipment or environmental harm. ... Safety engineering is an applied science strongly related to systems engineering. ...

Contents

Space suits

Both space suit designs currently in use, the U.S. EMU and the Russian Orlan, include life support systems allowing the user to work independently without an umbilical connection from a spacecraft. A space suit must have life support, either through an umbilical connection cord or independently, as spacesuits are supposed to protect people from the vacuum of outer space. Apollo 15 space suit A spacesuit is a complex system of garments, equipment, and environmental systems designed to keep a person alive and comfortable in the harsh environment of outer space. ... NASA portrait of American Astronaut Thomas Akers, wearing a Shuttle EMU. The Space Shuttle/International Space Station Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is an independent anthropomorphic system that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for a Shuttle or ISS crew member to perform extra-vehicular activity (EVA) in earth... Peggy A. Whitson, Expedition Five flight engineer, in an Orlan-M space suit as she prepares for an EVA. (NASA) The Orlan space suits are a series of semi-rigid space suits designed and built by NPP Zvezda for use in the Soviet space program and Russian space program. ... Look up Vacuum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA)[1] Outer space, sometimes simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ...


Space Shuttle

For the Space Shuttle, NASA includes in the ECLSS category systems that provide both life support for the crew and environmental control for payloads. The Shuttle Reference Manual contains ECLSS sections on: Crew Compartment Cabin Pressurization, Cabin Air Revitalization, Water Coolant Loop System, Active Thermal Control System, Supply and Waste Water, Waste Collection System, Waste Water Tank, Airlock Support, Extravehicular Mobility Units, Crew Altitude Protection System, and Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Cooling and Gaseous Nitrogen Purge for Payloads.[2] For the current Space Shuttle mission, see STS-117 NASAs Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States governments current manned launch vehicle. ... NASA portrait of American Astronaut Thomas Akers, wearing a Shuttle EMU. The Space Shuttle/International Space Station Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is an independent anthropomorphic system that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for a Shuttle or ISS crew member to perform extra-vehicular activity (EVA) in earth...


Soyuz

The life support system on the Soyuz spacecraft is called the Kompleks Sredstv Obespecheniya Zhiznideyatelnosti (KSOZh). Soyuz (Russian: Союз, pronounced sah-YOUS, meaning union) is a series of spacecraft designed by Sergey Korolyov for the Soviet Unions space program. ...

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This article has been tagged since June 2007.

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

International Space Station

In May of 1996, NASA published Technical Memorandum 108508, the International Space Station ECLSS Technical Task Agreement Summary Report.[3] It covers work done to develop and test both water recovery and air revitalization systems for the ISS.


Water recovery systems

Air revitalization systems

Oxygen Generating Systems

The Oxygen Generating System (OGS) currently used aboard the ISS (International Space Station) is the Elektron, located in Zvezda. Destiny also contains an OGS which is not yet in use. Initial use of the Destiny OGS is planned for late Summer, 2007. During one of the spacewalks conducted by STS-117 astronauts, a hydrogen vent valve required to begin using the system was installed. Additionally, the ISS crew has sometimes used backup sources of bottled oxygen and Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation canisters. International Space Station insignia ISS Statistics Crew: 3 As of June 20, 2007 Perigee: 319. ... Elektron is a Russian oxygen generator used on board the International Space Station (ISS). ... Zvezda service module with a Progress docked on the right and the Zarya FGB on the left. ... This is the module of ISS Destiny. ... Astronaut Bruce McCandless on an untethered EVA Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft. ... STS-117 is the current Space Shuttle mission being flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, which launched from pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on June 8, 2007. ... A chemical oxygen generator is a device that releases oxygen created by a chemical reaction. ...


The OGS aboard Destiny will electrolyze water the from the Water Recovery System to produce oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen will be delivered to the cabin atmosphere and the hydrogen will be vented overboard.[4]


References

  1. ^ Breathing Easy on the Space Station. NASA.
  2. ^ HSF - The Shuttle: Environmental Control and Life Support System. NASA.
  3. ^ International Space Station ECLSS Technical Task Agreement Summary Report. NASA.
  4. ^ International Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support System. NASA.

See also

Spaceflight Portal

Image File history File links Portal. ... An ecosphere Closed Ecological Systems (CES) are ecosystems that do not exchange matter with any part outside the system. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Life Support HRTF (3536 words)
Regenerative life support systems, based on a combination of biological and physicochemical components, may be used on future missions in low-Earth orbit, in transit to other planetary bodies, and on lunar and planetary surfaces.
The HRTF systems will be designed to support smooth transitioning between these two test phases and will support investigations relating to the evolution of the regenerative life support system from a predominantly physicochemically-based system to one which is predominantly biologically-based.
Over the next several years, HRTF systems modeling, design, and development activities as well as major facility construction activities will steadily progress, resulting in what is intended to be the state-of-the-art facility for conducting integrated biological and physicochemical life support systems testing with human participation.
LM News Reference: Portable Life Support System (1545 words)
The portable life support system provides an astronaut with a livable atmosphere inside his space suit during excursions on the lunar surface and in space.
The life support pack, with its controls, weighs 104 pounds; it is 26 inches high, 20.5 inches wide and 10.5 inches deep.
The oxygen purge system, OPS, connected to the suit by a separate umbilical, is designed for backup use in the event of emergencies such as loss of suit pressure or depleted oxygen supply.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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