Spaceflight Life Support and Biospherics

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XVI

   PDF

2. Rationale

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 1-7

3. Biosphere 1 — The Life Support System of Earth

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 9-37

4. The Extraterrestrial Environment

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 39-77

5. Fundamentals of Life Support Systems

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 79-173

6. Physico-Chemical Life Support Subsystems

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 175-248

7. Bioregenerative Life Support Concepts

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 249-364

8. Biosphere 2 — Lessons Learned for Future Celss Research

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 365-395

9. Future Life Support in Space

   • Peter Eckart

   Pages 397-412

10. Potential Terrestrial Applications

    • Peter Eckart

    Pages 413-427

11. Back Matter

    Pages 429-444

    PDF

Spaceflight Life Support and Biospherics is the introduction to space life support systems and artificial ecosystems that has so far been lacking. It is a source of information for everyone involved in the life support system design and development process - engineers, scientists, and students - as well as all those who are simply interested in this existing discipline. The structure of this book is such that it gives step-by-step answers to the basic questions concerning life support systems on any scale - from small microbial systems to the Earth's biosphere:

Why life support system development and biosphere research?

How does our natural life support system, the biosphere, work?

What are the environmental conditions for life support systems in space?

What are the fundamental terms and requirements of life support?

Which physicochemical life support subsystems currently exist?

Which are the potential bioregenerative life support technologies of the future?

What are life support systems of future planetary habitats going to look like?

What are the experiences of the largest artificial ecosystem - Biosphere 2?

What are the potential terrestrial benefits of life support development? £/LIST£

• design
• space
• space exploration
• spaceflight

' ... may well become a standard textbook, for the pioneers of our first home beyond Earth.'
Arthur C. Clarke, CBE, Colombo, Sri Lanka
' The book provides a very concise and pleasing summary of what is known and what is needed for the further development of life support systems.'
Spaceflight, January 1995
' A book which should be on the desk of every scientist and engineer working on regenerative life support systems.'
Dr Donald Henninger, NASA-Johnson Space Center
' ... remarkable book not only covers life support technology ... , but also serves as a primer on principles of ecology and the nature of the space environment. It serves both as a reference for professionals and as an introductory text for those new to the field.'
Dr Wendell Mendell, NASA-Johnson Space Center
' I recommend it to all the future aerospace engineers and to the confirmed space engineers who want to be informed about the specific field of space engineering.'
Dr Christian Tamponnet, ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk

• Institute of Astronautics, Technical University of Munich, Germany

  Peter Eckart

• Summer Session, Graduate of the International Space University, Kitakyushu, Japan

  Peter Eckart

• Crew and Thermal Systems Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, USA

  Peter Eckart

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