Unraveling Anomalies in Time: Unsupervised Discovery and Isolation of Anomalous Behavior in Bio-regenerative Life Support System Telemetry

Bio-regenerative Life Support Systems (BLSSs) are artificial ecosystems that consist of multiple symbiotic relationships. BLSSs are crucial for sustaining long-duration space missions by facilitating food production and managing essential material cycles for respiratory air, water, biomass, and waste. The EDEN NEXT GEN Project, part of the EDEN roadmap at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), aims to develop a fully integrated ground demonstrator of a BLSS comprising all subsystems, with the ultimate goal of realizing a flight-ready BLSS within the next decade. This initiative builds upon insights from the EDEN ISS project, which investigated controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technologies for space exploration. EDEN ISS, a near-closed-loop research greenhouse deployed in Antarctica from 2017 to 2021, focused on crop production, including lettuces, bell peppers, leafy greens, and various herbs. To ensure the safe and stable operation of BLSSs, we explore methods to mitigate risks regarding system health, particularly regarding food production and nourishment shortages for isolated crews.