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The facilities being planned for animal research on Space Station Freedom are considered in the context of the development of animal habitats from early ballistic and orbital flights to long-term missions aimed at more detailed scientific studies of the effects of space conditions on the vertebrate organism. Animal habitats are becoming more elaborate, requiring systems for environmental control, waste management, physiological monitoring, as well as ancillary facilities such as a 1-G control centrifuge and a glovebox. Habitats in use or to be used in various types of manned and unmanned spacecraft, and particularly those planned for Space Station Freedom, are described. The characteristics of the habitats are compared with each other and with current standards for animal holding facilities on the ground.

The Space Station Freedom will provide a wealth of new opportunities for life sciences research in the microgravity environment of Earth orbit. Such research will require the long-term housing of plant and animal subjects, as well as cell and tissue culture support systems. In addition to newly designed plant and animal vivaria for micro-g, housing for control subjects at one g and fractional g will be required to provide scientific controls, support gravity threshold studies, and perform experiments at Lunar and Mars gravity levels. A natural adjunct to a set of microgravity vivaria in space is, therefore, a centrifuge which could expose the same specimens to variable gravity levels. The larger the centrifuge, the more subjects that can be housed, the smaller the gravity gradient on the subjects, and the smaller the Coriolis effects. Early studies recommended a 4.0 meter diameter centrifuge, the largest that could be accommodated in a Shuttle launchable module.

Animal research on the Space Station presents the need for bioisolation, which is here defined as instrumental and operational provisions, which will prevent the exchange of particles greater than 0.3 μ size and microorganisms between crew and animals. Current design principles for the Biological Research Project thus call for: 1. use of specific pathogen-free animals; 2. keeping animals at all times in enclosed habitats, provided with microbial filters and a waste collection system; 3. placing habitats in a holding rack, centrifuge, and workbench, all equipped with particulate and odor filters, 4. washing dirty cage units in an equipment cleaner, with treatment and recycling of the water; 5. designing components and facilities so as to ensure maximal accessibility for cleaning; 6. defining suitable operational procedures. Limited ground tests of prototype components indicate that proper bioisolation can thus be achieved.

The productivity of life sciences research on the Space Station and the contribution of life sciences research to the success of Space Station and future space missions depend on two primary factors: 1) how well the Space Station accommodates life sciences research needs, and 2) how astutely the developers of life sciences experiments and laboratory equipment respond to the Space Station opportunity. There is a significant challenge to Space Station users in the development of experiment equipment, protocols, and supporting infrastructure, due to the revolutionary way in which the Station will operate. Experiments will typically flow in a continuous series of 90 day cycles. The advantages of continuous human operator presence will be partially offset by numerous other demands on crew time.

NASA has completed a series of technology, system analysis, conceptual design and programmatics studies of accommodations for animal and plant research aboard the Space Station. Mission and science requirements are reviewed together with the special subsystems and trade studies which were accomplished as the basis for configuration and layout analyses. Conceptual designs are presented of the laboratory accommodations recommended by the contractors from their parallel, competitive studies. Development cost estimates and schedules are reviewed. Resources to develop the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) Station Animal and Plant Research Facility and the Growth Station Animal and Plant Vivarium and Laboratory may be limited. Moreover, accommodations for animal and plant research may be minimal in the IOC Station.