Overall Material Flow Scheme Design of Controlled Ecological Life Support System for Lunar Base

Recently, the Moon has once again become the focus of the aerospace field. The lunar base is likely to be the next long-term extraterrestrial base for humans after the near-Earth orbit space station. However, the cost of lunar replenishment will substantially increase, and the time required for replenishment will become longer. It is necessary to establish a living system with higher degree of material closure and stronger self-sustainability to provide life support service for residents. The controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) is a feasible way to achieve the circular supply of oxygen, water, and food through biological regeneration. However, there is a practical issue of how to gradually establish a CELSS on the Moon and how to match the bio-regenerative system with the physicochemical system established in the early stage, to reduce the cost of the construction of the lunar life support system. In this paper, based on fully inheriting the physicochemical regeneration technologies of the present near-Earth orbit space station, biological components such as plants, microalgae, and microorganisms were gradually introduced in 4 stages to establish an upgraded CELSS with a total material closure degree of 98%. In addition, the material flux models of C, H, and O elements at different stages of the lunar base were designed and calculated. The results of this paper provide a reference for the construction of future lunar base life support systems in terms of improving the engineering feasibility of CELSS.