Biological Life Support Systems

Canada began research on biological life support systems (i.e. plants for food, water and atmosphere management) with applications in space in the early 1990s. Since that time Canada has evolved as a worldwide leader in biological life support system research and technology development. The rapid growth of Canadian expertise should not surprise the average Canadian.

  1. Canada has a climate which provides challenges for plant production
  2. the greenhouse industry has evolved to supply some of our needs
  3. the "connections" between the academic world and industry are strong in Canada, resulting in quality technology transfers between the sectors
Shelf Life experiment using aqueous ozone disinfection   Sealed Environment Chamber
Shelf Life experiment using aqueous ozone disinfection in the vase solution to control microorganisms and extend the shelf life of cut roses at the CESRF.   Dr. Geoff Waters, former MELiSSA Project Lead investigating the distribution of light energy to the lower part of plant canopies to enhance productivity in a Sealed Environment Chamber.

The Canadian advanced life support community has chosen to focus on lunar surface infrastructure and not low Earth orbit or transit systems (i.e. microgravity applications). To advance the technical readiness for the proposed lunar missions, including a lunar plant growth robotic lander, lunar "salad machine" (i.e. small scale plant production unit) and a full scale lunar plant production system, a suite of Earth-based developments and simulated environment (analogue) systems are proposed.

The benefit of Biological Life Support Systems (BLSS) lies in their ability to provide, in a closed loop and regenerative system, the three pillars of life-support, these being the provision of:

  1. food,
  2. atmospheric management (primarily CO2 and O2), and
  3. potable water production.
Suite of single plant hypobaric growth chambers   Experiment monitoring low pressure stress responses from plants
Suite of single plant hypobaric growth chambers to study effects of reduced atmospheric conditions (O2, CO2 and other gases) on the functions of plants.   Experiment monitoring low pressure stress responses from plants using green fluorescence markers. This will help determine the best environmental conditions for greenhouses on the moon.

Canada has expertise and technical capacity in the broad spectrum of disciplines required for the systematic implementation of BLSS in future exploration missions.

Canada's greenhouse sector is a multi-billion dollar industry, totalling $2.3 billion annually. Canada's cold climate necessitates a greater proportion of national horticultural production to be conducted in greenhouses and other controlled environments. In fact, Canadian greenhouse vegetable production is larger than that of the United States of America.

The big advance in Advanced Life Support Systems for space travel and its implementation came in 1994 when the University of Guelph established the Space and Advanced Life Support Agriculture Program (SALSA). It was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Allied Signal Aerospace and the greenhouse industry. This investment initiated a life support research focus at the University of Guelph, that has since evolved into the leading program of its kind in the world with an annual operating budget of almost $5 million. Numerous Canadian institutions are now involved and have made Canada a major contributor to research and development in this field.

Researchers at the University of Guelph's Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility (CESRF), in association with industry partners, have recently delivered the Higher Plant Compartment component of the European Space Agency's Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA) Pilot Plant in Barcelona, Spain. The CESRF also serves as a venue for collaboration with researchers from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre investigating the effects of hypobaric environments on plant growth and life support contributions.

Suite of Hypobaric Plant Growth Chambers   CESRF
Suite of Hypobaric Plant Growth Chambers in the CESRF to study effects of reduced atmospheric conditions (pressure, O2, CO2 ) on the functions of plants.

The CESRF is comprised of 20 sealed environment chambers including 14 variable pressure chambers used to study plant growth and development, photosynthetic gas exchange, air quality and nutrient solution control technologies under hypobaric conditions. University of Guelph facilities also include the Bovey Research Greenhouse Complex, the Science Complex Phytotron and the Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre. The Bovey Research Complex of six large wings is the primary venue for greenhouse related Advanced Life Support research.

Currently Canada is conducting research and has specific capabilities in the following areas as examples. More detailed information including other areas of expertise can be obtained from the CESRF web site.

Area of expertise Canadian Capabilities
Horticultural Management Strategies (for candidate crops) Plant biology, horticultural management practises, plant-environment interactions; development of candidate crops for future long duration missions
Growth Media Hydroponic production systems and artificial growth media
Water Management and Recycling Crew water use requirements, plant water use, water recovery, nutrient management, and overall water management strategies
Atmosphere Management Carbon dioxide and oxygen management, biological control of trace gas contaminants, plant production at reduced atmospheric pressure
Energy Management Life support power systems, energy conservation and conversion
Waste Management Stabilizing and storing wastes (e.g. human solid waste, trash, inedible biomass, for early missions; later missions would need to consider resource recovery from wastes
Food Processing Menu preparation, food preparation equipment and methods, food packaging, and food preservation.
Structures Inflatable structures and/or space structures applicable to small scale plant growth
Lighting Systems Plant lighting systems, inner canopy light distribution with application to future space-based growth systems
Robotics Automating greenhouse functions from the initial phases of plant production (e.g. seeding through to the maintenance and harvesting of crops) and final phases of production (e.g. sorting, packing, pre-processing)