Faerie Hill Ecoark
Sustainable Systems Research
- the Earth/Space connection -
CELSS - Closed Ecological Life Support Systems are potentially capable of automatically
converting stale air, dirty water, toilet wastes, and kitchen garbage into fresh oxygen rich air,
pure potable water, and an endless food supply. A person living within a CELSS would have
no need for external utility connections to water mains, sewage pipes, or electric lines.
No one would need to go grocery shopping. CELSS could provide everything necessary
for comfortable and sustainable life support without consuming, polluting, or otherwise
destroying the surrounding environment. On Earth, if we lived in a CELSS there would
be far less damage done to the biosphere. On Mars, CELSS will be essential. Long
duration space missions require a sustainable means of life support.
Mars migrationists will, by necessity, inhabit
materially closed environmental systems.
On Earth we may "close the loop" as well.
CELSS research began when scientists first contemplated
the need to recycle wastes in space capsules
NASA coined the term but the Russian space scientists, with their BIOS project, were the first
to build sealed ecosystems with humans inside. The CELSS we are creating today are far
more sophisticated than the earliest experiment, where a single human being was sealed
in a small capsule with a vat of algae. The CELSS of tomorrow will be even more advanced
and efficient. Experiments conducted by the amateur and professional life support community
are rapidly expanding our knowledge base, bringing forth fruit. According to accumulated
CELSS research, under optimal conditions, it takes an average of 23 m2 (about 250 square feet
or 16’ x 16’) of optimal plant growing surface space to adequately provide for the food, air water,
and waste treatment requirements for one person in a Controlled Ecological Life Support
System (CELSS). A family of 4 vegetarians, living on Mars (or Earth for that matter),
requires about 2000 square feet dedicated to intensive gardening. If you plan to eat
meat and/or dairy products, remember that animals need a lot more room than plants
to produce the same amount of food. Within the next ten years we should see the
first generation of commercial CELSS available on the open terrestrial marketplace.
The urge to migrate to Mars (and the development of the means to do so) spurred the first
practical efforts to make CELSS into a working system. Growing climatic chaos is spurring
the second wave of essential research which will provide humanity with the means
to a viable and sustainable future - on Earth and off.
MISSION
design, develop, manufacture, and market CELSS on a global scale to individuals, companies,
and governments which have a need for cost-effective on-site organic waste treatment,
water recycling, air purification, and sustainable food production
document, publish, and otherwise disseminate educational materials and information on CELSS
to the general public, educational institutions, the media, and other interested institutions
train, certify, and establish a global network of franchised CELSS distributors and service maintenance professionals to provide Ecoark kits, parts, construction expertise, and regular
service of the systems if required
STRATEGY
Stage #1:
purchase property and construct the Ecoark prototype and CELSS R&D testbed
Stage #2:
produce photographic documentation of the Ecoark and publish a “do-it-yourself “ CELSS manual
Stage #3:
patent applicable systems, write a business plan, capitalize for commercialization
Stage #4:
train and franchise distributor and service maintenance network | 
