Nathalie Leys from ESA’s Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative team introduces life-support research.

For exploring our Solar System, it would be ideal if we could take Earth’s ecosystem along with us to provide the environment we need to survive and feel comfortable in the harsh vacuum of space. Obviously, this is impractical but can we scale down our ecosystem to provide for us as we travel?

Sending bacteria to space is just one step in the process of miniaturising waste recycling and food production.