NEWS: ISRO’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for the Gaganyaan missionà Designed to artificially recreate Earth-like sea-level conditions to sustain astronauts in low Earth orbit at 400 km altitude.

About

• The ECLSSà Complex, mission-critical network of thermal, chemical, and mechanical engineering systems designed to replicate Earth’s biosphere inside a spacecraft.
• Operates as an open-loop configuration where all necessary human supplies are carried from Earth and metabolic waste is safely stabilized and stored for post-mission disposal.
• Developed Byà Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Aim

• To ensure the physiological safety, cognitive health, and comfort of the crew while protecting delicate onboard electronics.
• Accomplishes this by continuously regulating the cabin’s air composition, atmospheric pressure, temperature, moisture levels, and waste disposal in a harsh microgravity vacuum.

Key Features

• Maintains Earth-like cabin pressure using sensors and control valves to balance oxygen and nitrogen safely for the crew.
• Air Revitalization System (ARS)àSupplies oxygen continuously from onboard tanks while lithium hydroxide canisters remove carbon dioxide and activated charcoal filters eliminate harmful gases and odors.
• Internal cabin fans maintain constant airflow in microgravity, preventing dangerous buildup of carbon dioxide or oxygen pockets around astronauts.
• Controls cabin temperature and humidity while removing body heat and excess moisture to prevent equipment damage and microbial growth.
• Uses pressurized systems for drinking water and suction-based mechanisms to safely collect and chemically treat human waste in zero gravity.
• Employs special smoke detectors and water-mist extinguishers to control spherical fires and remove toxic smoke particles in microgravity.

Significance

• The ECLSSà Among the most critical systems of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Gaganyaan mission= 6enabling safe human survival in space.
• It strengthens India’s self-reliance in human spaceflight technologies such as air recycling, thermal control, and microgravity life-support engineering.