Abstract
Support of human life during long-distance exploratory space
travel or in the creation of human habitats in extreme
environments can be accomplished using the action of
microbial consortia inhabiting interconnected bioreactors,
designed for the purpose of reconversion of solid, liquid and
gaseous wastes produced by the human crew or by one of the
compartments of the bioregenerative loop, into nutritional
biomass, oxygen and potable water. The microorganisms
responsible for bioregenerative life support are part of Earth’s
own geomicrobial reconversion cycle. Depending on the
resources and conditions available, minimal life support
systems can be assembled using appropriately selected
microorganisms that possess metabolic routes for each
specific purpose in the transformation cycle. Under control of
an engineered system, a reliable life-support system can hence
be provided for.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 231-237 |
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Journal | Current opinion in microbiology |
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Volume | 10 |
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Issue number | 3 |
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DOIs | |
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Publication status | Published - 5 Jun 2007 |
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