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The air analyser thus monitors the trace gas dynamics of the spacecraft's atmosphere in providing continuous air monitoring as well as crew warning capability in case of malfunctions.

Whenever wanted, air samples for automatic analyses can be taken from any human-accessible position in the ISS or any connected spacecraft and fed to ANITA, applying gas bags and a hand pump. ANITA is an on-orbit test experiment and a precursor for a permanent continuous trace gas monitoring system on the ISS - ANITA II. ...The observed gas dynamics clearly show effects from spacecraft visits to the ISS, crew activities, the number of crew present, and the functioning of the air revitalisation systems.

Thus, a crewed cabin air monitor is designed allowing the detection and monitoring of trace gas dynamics of a spacecraft atmosphere providing besides the continuous air monitoring activities, warning capability in case of malfunctions.

This paper is a status report on the development of ANITA (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air), an FTIR-based (Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer) trace gas monitoring system. ANITA is scheduled for transport to the ISS (International Space Station) on the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) maiden flight ‘Jules Verne’, scheduled for launch April 2006. ANITA is calibrated to detect and quantify simultaneously 32 of the most important trace gases in the ISS atmosphere. ANITA operates fully automatic with one reading every 5 minutes. However, manual operation for non-local sampling is possible. To fulfil this measurement task a high-quality instrument has been developed and provided with sophisticated analysis software based on measurement simulations and advanced statistical regression techniques.

Thus a versatile usable air monitor is provided allowing for the first time the detection and monitoring of trace gas dynamics of a spacecraft atmosphere. The plan is to accommodate ANITA in a Destiny (US LAB) Express Rack on ISS.

After 11 months of successful operation onboard the ISS US laboratory Destiny, the air quality monitors ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air) was brought back to Earth on STS126 (ULF2). ANITA is a technology demonstrator flight experiment for continuous air quality monitoring inside the crewed cabin of the ISS with low detection limits and high time resolution. For the first time, the dynamics of the detected trace gas concentrations could be directly resolved by ANITA and correlated to gas events in the cabin. The system is the result of a long term ESA technology development programme initiated more than seventeen years ago. The ANITA mission was a cooperative project between ESA and NASA. ESA's responsibilities were the provision of the H/W, the data acquisition and the data evaluation. NASA was responsible for the launch, accommodation and operation onboard ISS, data download and the transportation of ANITA back to the Earth.

This crewed cabin air quality monitor allows the detection and monitoring of trace gas dynamics of a spacecraft atmosphere, providing continuous air monitoring as well as crew warning capability in case of malfunctions.

This air quality monitor allows therefore the detection and monitoring of trace gas dynamics of the spacecraft atmosphere, providing continuous air monitoring as well as crew warning capability in case of malfunctions.