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Life Support Equivalent System Mass Trade Calculator

Interactive 3D Equivalent System Mass (ESM) trade-study simulator: compare expendable, physicochemical-regenerative and bioregenerative space-habitat life-support architectures by their true mass, volume, power, cooling and crew-time cost, and watch the recycling-efficiency breakeven point shift live.

Space & Astronomy3DAdvanced60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted

Space-habitat life-support engineers don't just ask "how much does the hardware weigh" — every liter of pressurized volume, every kilowatt of power and heat rejection, and every hour of crew maintenance time also costs mass somewhere else on the vehicle. NASA trade studies fold all of that into a single number, Equivalent System Mass (ESM), using published equivalency factors for volume, power, cooling and crew time. This simulator plots ESM over a full mission timeline for three real life-support architectures — expendable, ISS-style physicochemical-regenerative, and bioregenerative — as a live 3D curve, with adjustable crew size and recycling-efficiency sliders that visibly shift the breakeven day where each regenerative system starts winning against simply carrying more consumables.

⚙ Under the hood

Compare expendable, physicochemical-regenerative and bioregenerative space-habitat life-support architectures using NASA's Equivalent System Mass (ESM) trade metric, and watch the recycling-efficiency breakeven day shift live in a 3D curve plot as you adjust crew size and closure efficiency.

ECLSSlife supportspace stationequivalent system masstrade studyrecycling efficiency

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install