Integrated life support

Closed-loop resource systems that remove dependency on resupply.

Heliphere designs and builds infrastructure that delivers food, water, air, energy, and materials with minimal external dependency. Every output becomes an input somewhere else.

The problem

Linear supply chains are the weak link.

Modern life-support depends on long, fragile logistics for water, food, power, and materials. When those links break, systems fail quickly.

Heliphere replaces dependency with closed loops that keep operating through disruption.

A system, not products

Every subsystem strengthens the others.

Energy powers water, air, and food. Food consumes CO₂ and produces oxygen. Water supports crops and materials. Waste becomes resources. The system holds because the loops reinforce each other.

  • Energy certainty stabilizes all loops
  • Water reuse protects output
  • Air quality sustains biological systems
  • Materials close the loop on waste
The system map

Every output is an input somewhere else.

Five resource loops surround the crew. The thick edges are internal — CO₂ becomes crop feedstock, urine becomes fertiliser, transpiration becomes drinking water, waste becomes energy. The thin edge is the point: resupply, designed to shrink.

Heliphere system map — five resource loops around the crew, with per-person-day flows SYSTEM MAP Resource flows per person-day — NASA BVAD / ISS-heritage values CO₂ 1.04 kg/p·d urine + flush ~2.0 kg potable 2.38 kg/p·d nutrients N·P·K condensate ~2.3 kg CO₂-enriched air O₂ + transpiration fresh food inedible biomass compost & biochar biogas grow lighting ~36–48 kWh/p·d solar & wind — the deliberately open input resupply — designed to shrink AIR atmosphere & CO₂ WATER six quality streams FOOD crops & protein MATERIALS waste → feedstock ENERGY the open loop CREW & HABITAT the demand the system serves EXTERNAL sun & resupply mass / resource flow electrical power external input Reference architecture — design targets, not measured operations.

Values are per person per day, drawn from NASA’s Baseline Values and Assumptions Document and ISS life-support heritage. Reference architecture — every value is a design target.

98%
of ISS water is recovered and reused — the closure standard our water loop is designed to
1.04 kg
of CO₂ exhaled per person daily — grow-zone feedstock, not waste
0.62 kg
of dry food mass per person-day — the target every food module is sized against
~51M
TEU global container fleet — the logistics system our modules inherit for free
The standard

Everything ships. Everything stacks.

Every Heliphere system is designed into the 20 ft ISO container — the one cargo envelope every port, crane, ship, railcar and truck on Earth is already tooled for. One standardised interface panel carries power, water, air, thermal and data between modules, so a site is configured, not constructed: truck in another box, connect the jumpers, and the loop grows.

Who we work with

Built for environments where supply chains can't be assumed.

Defence & security

Forward operating bases, remote installations, and contested environments where supply chain exposure is a strategic liability that cannot be accepted.

Research & exploration

Scientific stations, deep-sea habitats, and space analogues that require self-contained life support for extended missions without resupply windows.

Critical infrastructure

Continuity planning for utilities, hospitals, and data centres that cannot afford dependency on fragile external networks during disruption events.

Off-grid communities

Remote towns, island settlements, and development contexts where the economics of grid extension never arrive but resilience remains essential.