ABSTRACT:

MELiSSA (Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative) is developing regenerative Life Support technologies for long-term human Space exploration missions. In the scenario of missions targeting longer distances and presence in Space (Moon, Mars) there is the need to decrease the dependency from Earth resupply. The MELiSSA loop is conceived as a circular system with several compartments, each one performing a specific function, providing all together the basic functions in life support: food production, atmosphere regeneration, water recovery. The sustainability of the system should be attained using wastes (CO₂, urine, organic waste) generated by the crew as resources. The MELiSSA Pilot Plant is a facility designed for the terrestrial demonstration of this concept, hosting laboratory rats as a crew mimicking the respiration of humans. The MELiSSA Pilot Plant includes the continuous operation of several bioreactors, working in axenic conditions, connected one to each other, for long term operation campaigns, under the supervision of an overall control system.  The work program at the Pilot Plant is currently focused on the integration of its compartments in long-term continuous and controlled operation, in consecutive steps, involving liquid, solid and gas phases, targeting to the completion of the proposed loop. The integration of four compartments: a packed-bed bioreactor performing urine hydrolysis and nitrification using a defined consortium of six bacterial strains, an air-lift photobioreactor for the culture of the edible cyanobacteria Limnospira indica with concomitant capture of CO₂ and oxygen production, a higher plants chamber and an animal isolator with rats as mock-up crew, has been performed, exploring the effect of several variables in the operation of the four compartments, including the complex gas management dynamics between them and its control in continuous operation. The system showed high robustness and reliability over long operation periods and the coordinated performance of oxygen producing and oxygen consuming compartments has been achieved under transitory and steady-state conditions.

BIO:

Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) since 1993. Teaching activities in Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering. Coordinator of the Biotechnology Doctoral Program at UAB.  His research activity is focussed on Regenerative Life Support Systems in Space for human long-term missions and Animal Cell Technology to produce biopharmaceuticals, recombinant vaccines and vectors for gene therapy. Overall Manager of the MELiSSA Pilot Plant a joint facility of UAB and ESA (European Space Agency), for the demonstration and integration of Life Support technologies. Author of 135 papers in JCR journals, 4 patents, 9 book chapters and advisor of 43 completed PhD thesis. Member of the Scientific and Organizing Committee of several International Congresses. Coordinator of the ESACT International Courses on Animal Cell Technology and Cell-based Viral Vaccines. He served as Vice Rector of UAB, President of the Spanish Society of Biotechnology, President of the Blood and Tissue Bank of Barcelona and President of Fundació Parc Taulí. Currently, he is the President of the European Federation of Biotechnology and member of the Executive Board of the European Society for the Advancement of Cell Technology.