Waste Management

Introduction:

This module is crucial to survival because wherever we go we bring waste with us, and to create a successful place to live we need a way to regulate it. The location of the habitat is the first step to ensuring the longevity of the mission, this will influence all aspects of the mission like power output, temperature regulation, expansion, and resource acquisition ease. This module could be put in with dormitories/living quarters, but trash pilling up on the moon would be a real issue for anyone trying to set up a base. Human waste and trash from used parts present a special problem for astronauts, you can’t just leave it lying around because it won't degrade, rust, or be covered by dust. Sending trash back to Earth would cost too much money in fuel, and take more more than a few trips per month. Incinerating waste would be valid, but that too can take up a lot of energy, and what happens to trash too big to burn? Or things that won’t/can’t be burned. Human waste can be used in multiple ways to benefit the program, such as fertilizer for growing plants or to burn as a heat source.

Waste Uses:

Soil - Human waste has already been used for thousands of years on Earth to grow crops or, ‘biosolids’, however, the manure has to be treated first. With treatment to kill anything in the waste, biosolids can be used as a rich source of nutrients.

For 50 adults and 50 children, 6750 lbs of fruits and vegetables (growable’s) are needed to survive for one year.

Corn is going to be the staple crop used, because of its edible versatility, genetic viability, and low water consumption.

One pound of corn requires 127 gallons of water.

That’s 6,750 lbs of food * 127 Gallons per pound = 1,822,500 gallons of water for 100 people to eat.

Corn grows at a rate of 50 lbs per square foot, which is 135 sqr. feet needed for 6750 lbs of corn.

This means we need 13,500 gallons of water, per square foot, per year.

So the Hab that the waste management is in needs to be able to account for 135 square feet of crop manure per year. Roughly it takes one pound of manure for one square foot of soil. This means we will need at least 135 pounds of manure, which is very plausible for 100 people.

Heat source - High-temperature sewage water can be used on the moon to help heat the hab in the shade and cool it in the sun. The sewer heat recovery system treats the sewer main as a large heat sink. It filters and pumps sewer water through a heat exchanger, providing a closed-loop heat exchanger that can be connected to both heat pumps for heating and cooling. By closed loop, it means that none of the sewage elements come in contact with the building systems—only the heat gets transferred. This system enables the use of heat pumps for heating, which drastically reduces the energy required to heat the building.

Any kind of use with biosolids would result in byproducts like smoke or charcoal that would need to be taken care of in different ways. Thus we will focus on using biosolids for agriculture, and bioliquids for temperature regulation.

Hab Module Needs:

Non-human waste needs -

Most of the trash used in the base can be recycled, wrappers, boxes, paper, etc. can all be recrafted into other useful items. The trash that can’t be recycled, such as radioactive material, or general trash that serves no purpose needs to be disposed of safely somewhere. Plastics can be melted down and formed into bricks to be used in expansions or building projects around the Hab. Radioactive material needs to be taken care of tactfully. Burying or launching the material into space are viable options. Burying radioactive material could have unforeseen setbacks or consequences, and launching it into space is very costly. Any malfunction with the rockets could lead to catastrophic events.

Discussion

Feasibility