Environmental Control Systems for EDEN LUNA Plant Production Module

The DLR-ESA analogue facility LUNA will provide an environment to simulate future lunar habitats and surface exploration missions including the semi-closed plant production module EDEN LUNA. EDEN LUNA aims to enable testing of the challenging requirements plant production modules will face in future space missions. Building on the heritage of traditional physical-chemical life support systems from human spaceflight systems such as the ISS, by integrating plant production modules as bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS) holds the potential to further close material cycles. A main goal is to provide the optimal environmental conditions for plant growth while maximizing resource efficiency. A Thermal Control System (TCS) and Atmosphere Management System (AMS) need to work closely together to control parameters such as the air temperature and humidity. Depending on the plant type, density and growth stage, parameters like transpiration, CO2 intake and O2 output change and have to be considered for the atmospheric conditions to be automatically controlled. Also, as different plants require different conditions, to have the utmost flexibility on the choice of plants to be cultivated in the module, these systems have to be able to provide a range of atmospheric conditions. As an additional factor the presence of a human operator in the closed loop environment needs to be considered. After the EDEN LUNA project successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) with international participants in October 2024, the assembly, integration and verification (AIV) is currently ongoing until end of 2025 before the shipment to the DLR-ESA LUNA facility in Cologne can take place. This paper gives an overview of the environmental control systems of EDEN LUNA and its current answers on the specific challenges arising with a closed loop environment in space.