A Controlled Atmosphere Characterization Environment for Bioregenerative Life Support Technologies

Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) are considered a key technology for long-duration human space exploration due to resource transport limitations. However, they require a systematic characterization and qualification before they can be integrated into large-scale demonstrators or analog facilities. Reproducible ground-based testing environments are therefore needed to maintain controlled boundary conditions while allowing payload-induced gas exchange to be discerned from external disturbances. This study presents a modular characterization environment developed for the qualification of BLSS payloads and technologies, with particular emphasis on cabin atmosphere gas exchange. The platform provides independent control of O2, CO2 and N2 contents, thermal and humidity management and a distributed sensing architecture with database-integrated data logging to support long-duration operation. System performance was verified through long-duration experiments addressing cabin atmosphere stability, leakage-induced concentration drift, gas-composition control, disturbance response and thermal management. Defined O2 and CO2 concentration offsets were maintained over extended operating periods ranging from days to weeks with passive drift low enough to enable quantitative payload gas-exchange characterization. Stress testing under simulated O2 consumption demonstrated robust controller performance under elevated disturbance loads. Thermal verification confirmed preservation of payload-specific temperature control, controlled condensate recovery and humidity management. These results demonstrate that the platform provides stable, configurable and reproducible boundary conditions for quantitative testing of BLSS payloads. By bridging laboratory-scale development and integrated BLSS facilities, the characterization environment enables technology qualification for full-scale implementation.