Environmental Control and Life Support Systems

This research area involves knowledge, capabilities and practices associated with environmental control and/or life support systems used to protect life in dangerous or in supportive environments for flight or ground operations, including related instrumentation, controls, data acquisition, pneumatics and mechanisms. May include knowledge and capabilities needed for development of advanced and/or regenerative life support, such as how to apply plant physiology and pathology, microbial ecology, molecular biology, biological engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering and landscape ecology to development of advanced, regenerative life support such as air and water recycling, solid waste resource recovery, food sources and thermal environmental control.