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Melissa for astronauts

20.01.2010

Created by engineers and biologists of the European Space Agency, the installation "MELISSA" (an abbreviation of English words translated as "micro-ecological alternative life support system") is intended for deep space flights. The installation simulates the processes occurring in natural water bodies and ensuring the decomposition of waste products to simple compounds, which are then used to create new organic matter.

Regeneration systems worked on the Mir space station, they work on the International Space Station, but they can only regenerate air and water. "MELISSA" will allow cosmonauts on a long flight or on an alien base to use solid household waste.

A community of bacteria and blue-green algae refines the slurry obtained by grinding solid and liquid waste, after which the resulting nutrient solution enters the hydroponic compartment. There are grown plants that will be used as food for astronauts: wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, soybeans, rice, spinach, lettuce and onions. The oxygen produced by them is released into the air.

Individual components of this treatment plant are already being tested at the French Antarctic station, where it is forbidden to release any waste into the environment.

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