Lunar Habitat Wastewater Subsystem Power and Water Management

Abstract

The water management in a lunar base includes interaction between the In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), crew habitat, and wastewater subsystems. The ISRU produces water from the lunar regolith, while the wastewater subsystem provides fresh water after filtering wastewater generated from the crew habitat. A model for lunar base water filtration and management for autonomous control is yet to be developed. This paper describes a model to manage the water considering the interaction between different water and wastewater tanks in the lunar base. A methodology to generate crew members’ water consumption and wastewater generation profiles is also discussed. The model considers the power demand of the wastewater subsystem. It is observed that the power demand of the wastewater subsystem depends on the power availability and the desired level of different water and wastewater tanks. It is concluded that to design an autonomous energy management system, the controller should be able to generate time-varying references for different water tanks and take into account the available power.