July 2004 Report of Progress

Progress of each ALS-NSCORT project given by each project lead. 10 pages

February 2005 Report of Progress

Progress of each ALS-NSCORT project given by each project lead. 8 pages

May 2004 Report of Progress

Progress of each ALS-NSCORT project given by each project lead. 11 pages

Effect of Different Waste Recovery Systems on the Overall Waste Generation Rates for an Advanced Life Support System

This work demonstrates how studies of life support systems can be used to advance the understanding of environmental principles. Efficient waste recovery systems that are developed for the Advanced Life Support System used in space explorations can be utilised on Earth. As an example, we explored three different ALSS scenarios, each having different waste recovery technologies. The results are compared in terms of the overall waste generation rates. It is concluded that physicochemical waste recovery systems, with their low level of uncertainty in operating conditions and high recovery efficiencies, are the best choice for a 600 day mission to Mars. Description:21 page

An Advanced Scheduling Model for Crop Production in Bio-Regenerative Advanced Life Support (ALS) Systems

In this work, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed for advanced scheduling of crop production in bio-regenerative ALS systems. The main objective of the model is to meet the edible biomass demand of the crew diet. In the meantime, it tries to minimize the variation in oxygen generated by crops via controlling planting areas and the planting timetable of the crops taking into account the variability in oxygen released by crops arising from different photoperiod requirements. The model tries to minimize the cost of regulating the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide within the tolerable range in the crew cabin. If, for example, there is excess oxygen in the crew cabin, then it should be removed at a cost, which may/should be different than re-supplying oxygen if there is a deficit. A similar scenario will apply for carbon dioxide. The model is also capable of keeping track of the loads of other key elements, including energy, humidity due to crop growth, etc., without taking them into account in deciding the schedule, as a first-cut model

The Effects of Electricity Pring on PHEV Competitiveness

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) will soon start to be introduced into the transportation sector, thereby raising a host of issues related to their use, adoption and effects on the electricity sector. Their introduction has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector, which has led to government policies aimed at easing their introduction. If their wide-spread adoption is set as a target it is imperative to consider the effects of existing policies that may increase or decrease their adoption rate. In this study, we present a micro level electricity demand model that can gauge the effects of PHEVs on household electricity consumption and the subsequent economic attractiveness of the vehicles. We show that the electricity pricing policy available to the consumer is a very significant factor in the economic competitiveness of PHEVs. Further analysis shows that the increasing tier electricity pricing system used in California will substantially blunt adoption of PHEVs in the state; and time of use electricity pricing will render PHEVs more economically attractive in any state

A Prototype Simulation Based Optimization Approach to Model and Design an Advanced Life Support System

In this paper a SIMulation-based OPTimization (SIMOPT) approach is used to study the dynamics of Advanced Life Support System (ALSS). The SIMOPT architecture uses a Deterministic Optimization (DO) algorithm to optimize the overall ALS behavior by minimizing the re-supplies which are difficult to procure or transport, in conjunction with a simulation model which introduces uncertainty, i.e., randomness, to the system. DO algorithm is a detailed deterministic optimization model of ALSS, which is used to determine the values of strategic decisions, such as the crop growth area. An aggregate time-dependent mass balance model of ALSS and an aggregate steady state mass balance model of ALSS are developed as the simulation and optimization modules in SIMOPT, respectively. The ranges of acceptable values of strategic decisions, e. g., safety buffers for oxygen, edible food, water and carbon dioxide, in a given ALSS scenario are determined using SIMOPT which utilizes time series data mining methods. Description:12 page