Case Study: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center achieves 85% water recovery in spacecraft atmosphere revitalization with COMSOL

Simulation Helps Improve Atmosphere Revitalization Systems for Manned Spacecraft

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center faced the challenge of keeping cabin air breathable and reclaiming water for long-duration manned missions as part of the Atmosphere Revitalization Recovery and Environmental Monitoring (ARREM) project. Engineers aimed to optimize an Isothermal Bulk Desiccant (IBD) water‑saving system to dehumidify air, separate CO2, and return water to the cabin while reducing power use and meeting a target water‑recovery goal of 80–90%. To support design and optimization they used Comsol tools, including COMSOL Multiphysics and LiveLink for Pro/ENGINEER, to model the device and its multiphysics behavior.

Using Comsol simulations of a four‑column IBD, the team modeled porous media flow, heat transfer across aluminum foam lattices, and sorption/desorption dynamics with changing half‑cycle boundary conditions, and validated the model with breakthrough experiments. Comsol’s modeling predicted the IBD would remove about 85% of the water vapor from the air and return it for collection, matched experimental results, and provided actionable guidance to lower power consumption and improve water recovery; the validated simulation is now being used to refine thermally linked bed designs and extend atmosphere‑revitalization concepts for longer missions.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Jim Knox

Aerospace Engineer