Input Waste Stream Modeling for Trash Management, Recycling and Manufacturing Processes

Waste management processes: trash recycling (i.e. in space manufacturing), compacting into tiles (heat melt compaction), or trash water/ash/gas recovery (i.e. OSCAR or trash to gas), requires intensive cataloging and understanding of the input waste streams for simulation and design. This proposal seeks to investigate how the input waste streams will change the mass, elemental composition, and overall impact to varying mission architectures, when varying trash processes are considered. For example, if recycling efforts remove plastic from the input waste stream, trash compaction and trash to gas design will be greatly impacted and need to consider this situation. Another example: if plastic packaging is removed from the trash management input for 3D printing efforts, the radiation impact for trash compacted tiles is not as effective. This is a major gap in logistics, resource reuse and waste management that needs to be integrated and addressed. This work will investigate the input streams, catalog the situations of recycling, introduction of inedible biomass or crop waste products. A publication of the varying input streams, what new trash simulants should be used for these technology developments, and how this impacts mission architectures if polymers or recovered metals are used in any type of downstream sorting/staging for recycling will be presented as final results. The mission architectures will include lunar surface, Martian surface and Mars transit

A waste simulant model for varying input streams will be generated, informing what new trash simulants should be used for these technology developments, and how they will co-integrate with each other. The simulant models will be created as modular as possible to be flexible in how implementing varying waste or resource recovery technologies will impact mission architectures if polymers, crop waste, or recovered metals and ash are used or needed in any type of downstream or upstream sorting, storing, staging, and recycling. The data generated in this model will also be shared with mission architecture offices (specifically at LaRC) for understanding critical mission propulsion events, such as at Mars orbit insertion (MOI), trans-Earth injection (TEI), and Earth orbit insertion (EOI). The data will also be presented to SCLTs (ECLSS & ISRU), PTs (Structures/Materials, Advanced Manufacturing, and Propulsion) to take in feedback and update the model mid-project, so that orbital modeling or technology considerations are accurate for effective mission break-even curve analyses that are often done for mission modeling and technology trade studies. No one is currently evaluating this cross-cutting integration and data need, thus it is a very important study for the projects to integrate or model effectively for mission architectures

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