Logistics costs, technology limits, and human health and safety risks are the trinity that constrain human space exploration operations using current physical/chemical methods for environmental life support to maintain human presence and habitation. NASA and the CNSA have both released plans for lunar human exploration. This paper reviews those plans through the lens of strategic capability development. It examines the history of NASA’s development of bioregenerative space habitation systems and shows how past research and policy decisions, including funding cuts and program discontinuations, have led to critical gaps in current NASA capabilities. These gaps pose a strategic risk to US leadership in human space exploration that must be addressed urgently to sustain international competitiveness. It concludes with recommendations for program investments crucial for the deployment of mature bioregenerative technologies in the coming decade.
What will it take to explore the moon?
Deep space exploration is ultimately a logistics problem with humans in the loop. How will we solve these problems to enable humans to go and explore our solar system? The answer goes back to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the father of Rocketry and Bioastronautics who envisioned deep space ecosystems.