Event

Human Space Flight Technology at the TUM – Research on Photobioreactors for the Moon, Conceptual Design and Human Performance

Veranstaltungsort: Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), room 1730, Am Fallturm 2, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Beginn: 13. Februar 2025, 14:00 Uhr
Ende: 13. Februar 2025, 15:00 Uhr
Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar
Guest: Prof. Dr. Gisela Detrell

Prof. Dr. Gisela Detrell has the Professorship Human Space Flight Technology at TUM School of Engineering and Design, Munich, Germany

A base on the Moon surface or a mission to Mars are potential destinations for human spaceflight, according to current space agencies’ plans. These scenarios pose several new challenges, since the environmental and operational conditions of the mission will strongly differ than those on the International Space Station (ISS). One critical parameter will be the increased mission duration and further distance from Earth, requiring a Life Support System (LSS) as independent as possible from Earth’s resources. One major change to current systems would be the inclusion of biological systems to produce food. Those would a the same time produce oxygen and could contribute to the recycling of water. A potential biological candidate are microalgae. Several challenges both in the biological and technological aspects need to be solved, before a PBR can be used as part of the LSS in a Moon base. Those include: radiation effects on algae, operation under partial gravity, selection of the required hardware for cultivation and food processing, system automation and long-term performance and stability.

Gisela Detrell studied Aerospace Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and completed her doctorate in Life Support Systems reliability analysis for long duration space missions at the University of Stuttgart (Germany) and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 2015. She continued her research at the Institute of Space Systems in Stuttgart, leading the research group since 2018. In 2023 Prof. Detrell was appointed to the professorship for Human Spaceflight Technology at TUM.

Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar

The seminar will take place every second Thursday at 2 pm CET/CEST at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) from 2025 during the lecture period. 

The invitation for the seminar will be send via email to all registered members of the space-exploration mailing list. You can register here.

Portrait von Gisela Detrell.
Prof. Dr. Gisela Detrell