Damage-Sensitive Coupled Numerical Modules of ECLSS and Interior-Environment for Future Space Habitats

For extended space exploration missions beyond the Moon and Mars, space habitats will serve as bases, astronaut shelters, and scientific research laboratories. To support these functions, habitats must be operable and sustainable in harsh space conditions throughout their designated mission periods or longer. Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) is one of the key habitat subsystems, maintaining the desired internal conditions necessary for the habitat to continuously fulfill its roles. However, external and internal disturbances (e.g., micrometeorite impacts, system malfunctions, and human-introduced errors) are inevitable and can trigger system failures, cascading damages, and ultimately, mission failure. To mitigate such risks and reduce the likelihood of mission failure, space habitats must be resilient, incorporating repair and recovery capabilities. Although significant conceptual research has explored resilient designs and operational strategies, the development of a comprehensive testbed, whether virtual or physical, remains limited. This lack of an integrated testbed impedes the validation of resilience-based approaches. To address these limitations, this paper introduces a physics-based, damage-sensitive space habitat simulation model that enables researchers to examine habitat behavior and performance under both nominal and off-nominal conditions. The proposed model includes an Interior-Environment (IE) module as a controlled space within the habitat, and an ECLSS module, comprising an Active Thermal Control System (ATCS), an Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS), and an Air Revitalization System (ARS). The first principal equations are the backbone of this simulator, which computes realistic trends for complex and interconnected habitat system behaviors in response to imposed damage scenarios. This capability enables the simulator to effectively evaluate both resilient habitat designs and varying operational strategies to determine the fault-tolerance of the space habitation system.