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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Space Technol.
Sec. Advanced Space Engineering
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frspt.2024.1461389
This article is part of the Research Topic Next generation of materials for space applications View all 4 articles

Assessment of the Physical and Psychological Aspect of the Current Life Support System on the International Space Station for a Sustainable Space Exploration

Provisionally accepted
Shuichi Ichimura Shuichi Ichimura 1,2Yosuke Yamashiki Yosuke Yamashiki 2,3*
  • 1 KDDI Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
  • 2 Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyōto, Japan
  • 3 Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyōto, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Life support systems in space have been developed to recover a certain amount of oxygen and water. However, we still rely on resupplies to deliver gas tanks, water bags, and food, and to achieve sustainable human space exploration, we would also need to consider astronaut's well-being. This research analyzes and assesses the status of the life support elements, which are air, water, and food, as well as well-being elements, which are clothing, hygiene, and healthcare, on the International Space Station. The results show that resupplies are not just gas tanks and water bags, but also include a significant number of spare items to maintain the recovery systems. Food completely relies on resupplies and regarding well-being elements, even though the mass supplied from Earth seems to meet the space agency's requirement, astronauts feel uncomfortable wearing the same clothes and using the same towels for days, especially exercise clothes which causes odor. It was also discovered that each resupply mission is inefficient as resupplies account for only 0.21% of the total launch mass. Negative effects on both physical and phycological aspects by relying on resupply was pointed out such as anxiety about the risk of running out of life support consumables, stowage, and odor issues caused by waste, and stress due to complicated cargo unloading and loading transfer operation. As humans explore the Moon and beyond, we will not be able to expect frequent resupplies as it will require more costly launches and longer delivery times, and suggestions regarding technologies that need to be developed to realize a sustainable human presence in space are being made.

    Keywords: life support system1, well-being2, space exploration3, resupplies4, sustainability5

    Received: 08 Jul 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ichimura and Yamashiki. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yosuke Yamashiki, Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8306, Kyōto, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.