Consortium

MELiSSA’s consortium is built around 15 formal partners that have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, and works with at least 50 other universities, research institutes, space agencies and industrial companies in a variety of collaborations. MELiSSA is internationally recognised as the most advanced effort to develop closed-loop life support systems, with signatory partners today based in Belgium, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.

Pilot facilities and coordination

Core MELiSSA processes are validated at dedicated pilot facilities across Europe, and in extreme environments such as Antarctica, bridging the gap between laboratory research, space applications and terrestrial demonstrators (see Ground Demonstration). Programme coordination and strategic guidance are provided jointly by ESA and the wider MELiSSA community, with the MELiSSA Foundation playing a central role in managing intellectual property, industrial partnerships, education and the transfer of technology towards terrestrial applications.

To accelerate that impact on Earth, MELiSSA also supports dedicated industrial lines in areas including advanced water treatment and heat recovery, urine-to-fertiliser conversion, sustainable sanitation, controlled-environment agriculture, and digital tools for monitoring and simulation (see Terrestrial Applications).