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The operation of a crop growth system in micro-gravity is an important part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Closed Ecological Life Support System development program. Maintaining densely arrayed plants in a closed environment imposed to induce high growth rates must be expected to result in substantial levels of water transpiration rate. Since the environmental air is recirculated, the transpiration water must be removed. In an operating CELSS, it is expected that this water will provide potable water for use of the crew. There is already considerable knowledge about water removal from crew environmental air during orbital and transfer activities, and the difference between the conditions of the described requirement and the conditions for which experience has been gained is the quantities involved and the reliability implications due to the required periods of operation.

This paper features a set of advanced technologies for autonomy and intelligence in advanced inspection systems of facility operations. These technologies offer a significant contribution to set a path to establish a system and an operating environment with autonomy and intelligence for inspection, monitoring and safety via gas and ambient sensors, video mining and speech recognition commands on unmanned ground vehicles and other platforms to support operational activities in the Cryogenics Test bed and other facilities and vehicles. These advanced technologies are in current development and progress and their functions and operations require guidance and formulation in conjunction with the development team(s) toward the system architecture.

The least expensive life support for brief human missions is direct supply of all water and oxygen from Earth without any recycling. The currently most advanced human life support system was designed for the International Space Station (ISS) and will use physicochemical systems to recycle water and oxygen. This paper compares physicochemical to direct supply air and water life support systems using Equivalent Mass (EM). EM breakeven dates and EM ratios show that physicochemical systems are more cost effective for longer mission durations.

Waste management is a vital function of spacecraft life support systems as it is necessary to meet crew health and safety and quality of life requirements. Depending on the specific mission requirements, waste management operations can include waste collection, segregation, containment, processing, storage and disposal. For the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), addressing volume and mass constraints is paramount. Reducing the volume of trash prior to storage is a viable means to recover habitable volume, and is therefore a particularly desirable waste management function to implement in the CEV, and potentially in other spacecraft as well. Research is currently being performed at NASA Ames Research Center to develop waste compaction systems that can provide both volume and mass savings for the CEV and other missions.

Waste management is a critical component of life support systems for manned space exploration. Human occupied spacecraft and extraterrestrial habitats must be able to effectively manage the waste generated throughout the entire mission duration. The requirements for waste systems may vary according to specific mission scenarios but all waste management operations must allow for the effective collection, containment, processing, and storage of unwanted materials. NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle usually referred to as the CEV, will have limited volume for equipment and crew. Technologies that reduce waste storage volume free up valuable space for other equipment. Waste storage volume is a major driver for the Orion waste compactor design. Current efforts at NASA Ames Research Center involve the development of two different prototype compactors designed to minimize trash storage space.

This paper considers the design of a life support system for transit to Mars and return to Earth. Because of the extremely high cost of launching mass to Mars, the Mars transit life support system must minimize the amount of oxygen, water, and food transported. The three basic ways to provide life support are to directly supply all oxygen and water, or to recycle them using physicochemical equipment, or to produce them incidentally while growing food using crop plants. Comparing the costs of these three approaches shows that physicochemical recycling of oxygen and water is least costly for a Mars transit mission. The long mission duration also requires that the Mars transit life support system have high reliability and maintainability. Mars transit life support cannot make use of planetary resources or gravity. It should be tested in space on the International Space Station (ISS).

Terraforming of Mars is the long-term goal of colonization of Mars. However, this process is likely to be a very slow process and conservative estimates involving a synergetic, technocentric approach suggest that it may take around 10,000 years before the planet can be parallel to that of Earth and where humans can live in open systems (Fogg, 1995). Hence, for the foreseeable future, any missions will require habitation within small confined habitats with high biomass to atmospheric mass ratios, thereby requiring that all wastes be recycled. Processing of the wastes will ensure predictability and reliability of the ecosystem and reduce resupply logistics. Solid wastes, though smaller in volume and mass than the liquid wastes, contain more than 90% of the essential elements required by humans and plants.

A habitat for housing up to 32 Tenebrionid, black body beetles (Trigonoscelis gigas Reitter) has been developed at Ames Research Center for conducting studies to evaluate the effects of long duration spaceflight upon insect circadian timing systems. This habitat, identified as the Beetle Kit, provides an automatically controlled lighting system and activity and temperature recording devices, as well as individual beetle enclosures. Each of the 32 enclosures in a Beetle Kit allows for ad lib movement of the beetle as well as ventilation of the beetle enclosure via an externally operated hand pump. Two Beetle Kits were launched on STS-84 (Shuttle-Mir Mission-06) on May 15, 1997 and were transferred to the Priroda module of the Russian Mir space station on May 18 as part of the NASA/Mir Phase 1 Science Program. Following the Progress collision with Spektr on June 25, the Kits were transferred to the Kristall module. The beetles will remain on Mir for approximately 135 days.

This study examines the current state of the art in rodent habitats as well as the next generation of rodent habitats currently under development at NASAs Ames Research Center. Space Shuttle missions are currently limited in duration to just over two weeks. In contrast to this, future life science missions aboard the Space Station may last months or even years. This will make resource conservation and utilization critical issues in the development of rodent habitats for extended microgravity missions. Emphasis is placed on defining rodent requirements for extended space flights of up to 90 days, and on improving habitability and extending the useful performance life of rodent habitats.

An innovative design that meets both Shuttle and Space Station requirements for a user-friendly, volume-efficient, portable glovebox system has been developed at Ames Research Center (ARC). The Standard Interface Glovebox (SIGB) has been designed as a two Middeck locker-sized system that mounts in a Middeck Rack Structure (MRS) or in any rack using the Standard Interface Rack (SIR) rail spacing. The MRS provides structural support for the SIGB during all aspects of the mission and is an interface consistent with NASA's desire for commonality of mechanical interfaces, allowing the SIGB to be flown on essentially any manned space platform. The SIGB provides an enclosed work volume which operates at negative pressure relative to ambient, as well as excellent lighting and ample work volume for anticipated life sciences-related experiment operations inflight.

For the last two years, the University of Utah and Reaction Engineering International, in cooperation with NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), have been developing a waste incineration system for regenerative life support systems. The system is designed to burn inedible plant biomass and human waste. The goal is to obtain an exhaust gas clean enough to recycle to either the plant or human habitats. The incineration system, a fluidized bed reactor, has been designed for a 4-person mission. This paper will detail the design of the units. In addition, results will be presented from testing at the University of Utah. Presently, the unit has been shipped to Ames Research Center for more tests prior to delivery to Johnson Space Center for testing in a 90-day, 4-person test.

PGBA, a plant growth facility developed for commercial space biotechnology research, successfully grew a total of 50 plants (6 species) during 10 days aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-77), and has reflown aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-83 for 4 days and STS-94 for 16 days) with 55 plants and 10 species. The PGBA life support system provides atmospheric, thermal, and humidity control as well as lighting and nutrient supply in a 33 liter microgravity plant growth chamber. The atmosphere treatment system removes ethylene and other hydrocarbons, actively controls CO2 replenishment, and provides passive O2 control. Temperature and humidity are actively controlled.

Over the last three years, the University of Utah (UofU), NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), and Reaction Engineering International (REI) have been developing an incineration system for the regeneration of components in waste materials for long-term life support systems. The system includes a fluidized bed combustor and a catalytic flue gas clean up system. An experimental version of the incinerator was built at the UofU. The incinerator was tested and modified at ARC and then operated during the Phase III human testing at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) during 1997. This paper presents the results of the work at the three locations: the design and testing at UofU, the testing and modification at ARC, and the integration and operation during the Phase III tests at JSC.

The microgravity environment presents unique challenges to mass measurement. Early attempts to develop a human mass measurement device for space application include: 1) a spring oscillator design, developed by astronaut Dr. William Thornton, used in Spacelab, and 2) a linear acceleration device, developed by the former Soviet Union, used in the Mir space station. Accurate measurement of human body mass in microgravity is important for both research and crew health care monitoring. To accommodate this requirement, the Human Research Facility (HRF) has developed an improved acceleration-based Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device (SLAMMD) for the International Space Station (ISS).

The Human Research Facility (HRF) was developed with the sole, singular purpose of advancing the study of the effects of microgravity on biological systems. The single, largest component of this effort is the Human Research Facility's Ultrasound System. The HRF Ultrasound System, once on orbit, will be a fully functional, state of the art, ultrasound machine capable of providing all modes and modalities currently available in terrestrial hospitals and research centers. The HRF Ultrasound System will be able to transfer data from the International Space Station (ISS) to researchers on the ground in near real-time, comply with diagnostic commands from Mission Control at Johnson Space Center (JSC) and accept software upgrades with minimal crew interface.

The Human Research Facility (HRF) dedicates itself to researching the effects of microgravity on human physiology. The largest HRF payload is a fully functional state-of-the-art ultrasound system modified for space flight. This ultrasound system interfaces with remote software to provide video and data communication between the HRF Ultrasound and the HRF Telescience Support Center (TSC) at Johnson Space Center (JSC). This software architecture allows NASA scientists and engineers to transfer images, perform diagnostics, and support upgrades. These functions provide the means to interpret life science experiments performed in a microgravity environment.

Scheduled for an initial launch in the first quarter of the year 2000, the Human Research Facility (HRF) will provide the first major pieces of biomedical research hardware for Life Sciences investigations on the International Space Station (ISS). The HRF will support scientific studies in the fields of biochemistry and metabolism, cardiopulmonary physiology, environmental sciences, human factors, musculoskeletal physiology, neurosciences, and psychology and behavior. To date, twenty seven experiments have been selected for further definition. HRF hardware will include a gas analyzing mass spectrometer, a body mass measurement device, an ultrasound machine, a computer workstation/data storage device, a strength measurement device, a range of motion suit, and a number of stowed hardware items.

The Human Research Facility (HRF) Workstation is a key computational element in the HRF data system architecture. The HRF Workstation consists of a stowed display, keyboard, archive media, cables, and an active four Panel Unit (PU) drawer with electrical, mechanical, thermal, and data interfaces to the EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) rack and the International Space Station (ISS). The four panel unit drawer, called the Workstation Computer Drawer, is the “heart” of the system and contains the processors, RAM, hard drives, interface boards, etc. The HRF Workstation will provide data collection, archive, downlink, display, video processing, graphics accelerator, user interface, and EXPRESS rack interfaces for experiment operation.

Future long-term space missions, such as a manned mission to Mars, will require regenerative life support systems which will enable crews more self-sufficiency and less dependence on resupply. Toward this effort, a series of tests called the Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project have been conducted as part of the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA's) advanced life support technology development program. The last test in this series was the Phase III test which was conducted September 19 - December 19, 1997 in the Life Support Systems Integration Facility at the Johnson Space Center. The overall objective of the Phase III test was to conduct a 90-day regenerative life support system test with four human test subjects demonstrating an integrated biological and physicochemical life support system to produce potable water, maintain a breathable atmosphere, and maintain a shirt sleeve environment.

The Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project (LMLSTP) Phase III test examined the use of biological and physicochemical life support technologies for the recovery of potable water from waste water, the regeneration of breathable air, and the maintenance of a shirt-sleeve environment for a crew of four persons for 91 days. This represents the longest duration ground-test of life support systems with humans performed in the United States. This paper will describe the test from the inside viewpoint, concentrating on three major areas: maintenance and repair of life support elements, the scientific projects performed primarily in support of the International Space Station, and numerous activities in the areas of public affairs and education outreach.