The MELiSSA Pilot Plant is an external laboratory of the European Space Agency located at the Campus of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The MELiSSA Pilot Plant is a facility of the MELiSSA project, and it is a unique site in Europe for the ground demonstration and integration of regenerative life support technologies for Space. This is performed under industrial quality standards, in long-term continuous operation, terrestrial conditions, and using animals (rats) as a mock-up of the crew.
C3 – C4a Compartments
Compartment C4b
MELiSSA concept is based on loop of five compartments each one with a specific functionality: microbial degradation of organic wastes (Compartments 1 and 2), nitrification (Compartment 3), air revitalization and edible material and oxygen production by cyanobacteria and plants (Compartment 4a and 4b respectively) and the crew compartment, consisting of an animal isolator (Compartment 5). The MPP development approach is based on a step by step approach based on: a) the understanding of each compartment, b) the operation and characterization of each compartment individually, and c) the complete loop integration and long-term continuous operation under a dedicated control system based on mathematical models.
Today the MPP is working on the integration of Compartment 3 (nitrification), Compartment 4a (photosynthesis and edible material production by cyanobacteria), Compartment 4b (Higher Plant Chamber), and Compartment 5 (mock-up crew) connected in gas and liquid phases. To see the MPP evolution click here.
The MELiSSA Pilot Plant develops all its activity under a quality system based on the ISO 9001 . Since 2011 the MPP has been continuously certified. To see the certificate click here. It also has a quality policy (to see the quality policy click here)
The MPP is supported by the European Space Agency and sponsored by multiple ESA states such  Spain (main contributor), Belgium, Italy, Norway and France contributions to ESA, the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innnovación, Generalitat de Catalunya and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
The MPP is part of the Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering and the School of Engineering of UAB
Tour to the MPP

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IEEC

MELiSSA Foundation

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