Survivability and life support in sealed mini-ecosystems with simulated planetary soils.

ABSTRACT: Establishing a sustainable life-support system for space exploration is a formidable challenge due to the vast distances, high costs, and environmental differences from Earth. Building upon the lessons from the Biosphere 2 experiment, we introduce the novel "Ecosphere" and "Biosealed" systems, self-sustaining ecosystems within customizable, enclosed containers. These systems incorporate terrestrial ecosystems and groundwater layers, offering a potential model for transplanting Earth-like biomes to extraterrestrial environments. Over 4 years, we conducted rigorous experiments and analyses to understand the dynamics of these enclosed ecosystems. We successfully mitigated moisture deficiency, a major obstacle to plant growth, by incorporating groundwater layers. Additionally, we quantified mi

SUBMITTER: Sato T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11530624 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature