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11/07/2010
NTE-SENER is participating in the International Conference on Environmental Systems
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This professional event, organised by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), will be celebrating its 40th anniversary from 11th July to 15th in Hotel Fira de Barcelona, joined by other important groups such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the International ICES Committee ICES (INTL) and SAE International. The event is sponsored by NTE-SENER, a company based in Catalonia (Spain) and part of the SENER Engineering Group, who are also participating in a conference on the MELISSA system by Jordi Duatis, Life Support Project Manager. |
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The conferences will cover all areas related to humans living and working in hostile environments, with applications outside and inside of terrestrial or space habitats or vehicles. These areas include: aerospace human factors, environmental control and life support system technology, environmental monitoring and controls, EVA system technology, life sciences, planetary habitats and systems, and thermal control systems technology for both manned and unmanned vehicles.
At this meeting, which will attract leading environmental system specialists from the international space sector, NTE-SENER will be giving a conference about the MELISSA system. On 14th at 09.15 am, the Life Support Project Manager, Jordi Duatis, will present the conclusions of a study for the use of MELISSA in a moon base. MELISSA, acronym of Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative, is an international multidisciplinary project co-ordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA) with the aim of developing a regenerative life support system for long-term manned space missions. It consists of five compartments, artificially reproducing a lake ecosystem. In compartments I to III waste is biodegraded by several microbiological processes. Food, water and oxygen are generated in compartment IV by means of growing algae and higher plants in the ecosystem. Compartment V houses the crew.
MELISSA will enable long distance space travel including manned trips to Mars, an idea discussed by the world’s leading space agencies for some years. Exploring Mars would involve several years of space travel for a team of astronauts, and the development of life support systems with regenerative ecosystems capable of autonomously generating food, water and oxygen which is essential if such inter-planetary adventures are to become a reality.
NTE-SENER, a Spanish firm, specialised in the development of space systems for manned missions and life support systems in space among other disciplines, has recently undertaken the MARES project, studying the effect of zero gravity on astronauts, which is currently installed in the International Space Station. In MELISSA, NTE-SENER is responsible for the implementation of the Pilot Plant Control System that regulates the biochemical processes within bioreactors of the compartments. This control system includes PLC-based control hardware and also supervision software specifically designed for this application. |
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