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ANITA (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air) is a flight experiment precursor for a permanent continuous air quality monitoring system on the ISS (International Space Station). For the safety of the crew, ANITA can detect and quantify quasi-online and simultaneously 33 gas compounds in the air with ppm or sub-ppm detection limits. The autonomous measurement system is based on FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy). The system represents a versatile air quality monitor, allowing for the first time the detection and monitoring of trace gas dynamics, with high time resolution, in a spacecraft atmosphere. ANITA operated on the ISS from September 2007 to August 2008. This paper summarises the results of ANITA's air analyses and compares results to other measurements acquired on ISS during the operational period.

To satisfy a requirement to supply water to Mir station, a process for treating iodinated water on the Shuttle was developed and implemented. The treatment system consists of packed columns for removing iodine and a syringe-based injection system for adding ionic silver, the biocide used in Mir water. Technical and potable grade water is produced and transferred in batches using collapsible 44-liter contingency water containers (CWCs). Silver is added to the water via injection of a solution from preloaded syringes. Minerals are also added to water destined for drinking. During the previous four Shuttle-Mir docking missions a total of 2781 liters (735 gallons) of water produced by the Shuttle fuel cells was processed using this method and transferred to Mir. To verify the quality of the processed water, samples were collected during flight and returned for chemical analysis.

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.

Concentrated wastewater brines, produced by primary stage spacecraft water recovery systems, can be further processed to recover additional usable water supply. The Lunar Surface Systems Project at NASA-JSC identified brine dewatering technologies as a critical technology need. In response, the Exploration Life Support Office commissioned a study to summarize the technologies currently available, and recommend a development roadmap for future resources. This paper reviews some of the technologies under development within the government, in academia, and private industry, and outlines a proposed development strategy to meet technology needs for the Lunar Outpost.

During Lunar missions, NASA's new Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) may benefit from mass savings and increased reliability by the use of a passive, capillary-driven Static Phase Separator (SPS) for urine collection, containment, and disposal in place of a rotary-fan separator and wastewater storage tank. The design of a capillary separator addresses unique challenges for microgravity fluid management for liquids with a wide range of possible contact angles and high air-to-liquid flow ratio. This paper presents the iterative process leading to a successful test in a reduced gravity aircraft of the SPS concept. Using appropriately scaled test conditions, the resulting prototype allows for a range of wetting properties with complete separation of liquid from gas.

It has been 30 years since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last developed a crewed spacecraft capable of launch, on-orbit operations, and landing. During that time, aerospace avionics technologies have greatly advanced in capability, and these technologies have enabled integrated avionics architectures for aerospace applications. The inception of NASA's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) spacecraft offers the opportunity to leverage the latest integrated avionics technologies into crewed space vehicle architecture. The outstanding question is to what extent to implement these advances in avionics while still meeting the unique crewed spaceflight requirements for safety, reliability and maintainability. Historically, aircraft and spacecraft have very similar avionics requirements. Both aircraft and spacecraft must have high reliability.

To support manned lunar and Martian exploration, NASA/JSC and LESC are conducting an extensive evaluation of air revitalization subsystems. The major operations under study include regenerative CO2 removal and reduction; O2 and N2 production, storage, and distribution; humidity and temperature control; and trace contaminant control. This paper describes the ongoing analysis of air revitalization subsystems, including ASPEN PLUS™ modeling and breadboard test stand operation. A comprehensive analysis program based on a generalized block flow model is currently being developed to facilitate the evaluation of various processes and their interactions. Future plans for the development of this simulation will be discussed. ASPEN PLUS™ has been used to model a variety of the subsystems described above; application of this package in modeling CO2 removal and reduction will be discussed.

The first two phases of the Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project [LMLSTP] involved housing human volunteers in closed chambers that mimic future extraterrestrial life support systems. The Phase I test involved one person living for 15 days in a chamber with wheat as the primary means of air revitalization. The Phase II test involved 4 people living for 30 days in a chamber with physical/chemical air revitalization and waste water recycling. The consequences of closure on microbial ecology and the influence that microbes had on these closed environmental life support systems were determined during both tests. The air, water, and surfaces of each chamber were sampled for microbial content before, during, and after each test. The numbers of microbes on the Phase I habitation chamber surfaces increased with length of occupation.

This paper describes the hardware used and the experience gained during the Space Shuttle extravehicular activities (EVAs) or “spacewalks” of 1984. Seven EVAs on four missions were conducted with objectives including hardware verification, satellite repair, hydrazine transfer, and satellite retrieval. The hardware used on these flights falls into two categories - general EVA hardware (e.g. the Manned Maneuvering Unit) and mission-unique hardware (e.g. apogee kick motor capture device, used to retrieve the WESTAR VI and PALAPA B-2 satellites). The successful completion of the mission objectives resulted in an increased knowledge of EVA operations and a broader base of Space Shuttle capabilities which are applicable to future operations.

This paper summarizes requirements, design concepts, and a baseline configuration for an Advanced Food Hardware System (AFHS) galley for the initial operating capability (IOC) Space Station. The AFHS program is being developed by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co (MDAC). ILC Space Systems. Whirlpool, and Hamilton Standard under contract to NASA-ISC. Space Station will employ food hardware items that have never been flown in space such as a dishwasher. microwave oven, blender/mixer, bulk food and beverage dispensers. automated food inventory management, a trash compactor. and an advanced technology refrigerator/freezer. These new technologies and designs are described and the trades. design, development, and testing associated with each are summarized. Space Station objectives and constraints that impact the design of food hardware are described as are their implications for hardware selection, design, and test.

This paper addresses fire and post-fire operational principles and techniques for extinguishing fire events aboard the US Segment of the International Space Station (ISS) through assembly mission 7A. Included is a brief description of ISS fire detection, suppression and cleanup assets. The paper reviews several fireground management fundamentals, including command and control, pre-fire planning, and the use of standard operating procedures. The majority of the paper describes fire detection, response and cleanup management and procedures, and their employment in several US fire scenarios. The paper concludes with a review of procedure validation and training techniques, and areas of open work.

In preparation for future planetary exploration, NASA-Johnson Space Center has developed a critical path plan for food and nutrition research needs. The plan highlights the risk factors pertaining to food and nutrition associated with exposure to the space flight environment as well as the possible consequences if no corrective measures are implemented. Included in the plan are the initiating events such as microgravity, remote environment and mission duration, which obviously impact the risk factors. The plan includes points of intervention where mitigating factors can be implemented to avoid outcomes such as malnutrition and unsafe foods. Physiological changes induced by lack of gravity, as well as increased exposure to radiation, may alter nutrient bio-availability and/or nutrient requirements. An inadequate food system, whether due to technical limitations or nutritional shortcomings, can result in serious consequences.

Ground-based laboratory and closed-chamber human tests have demonstrated the ability of microbial-based biological processors to effectively remove carbon and nitrogen species from regenerable life support wastewater streams. Application of this technology to crewed spacecraft requires the development of gravity-independent bioprocessors due to a lack of buoyancy-driven convection and sedimentation in microgravity. This paper reports on the development and testing of membranebased biological reactors and addresses the processing of planetary and International Space Station (ISS) waste streams. The membranes provide phase separation between the wastewater and metabolically required oxygen, accommodate diffusion-driven oxygen transport, and provide surface area for microbial biofilm attachment. Testing of prototype membrane bioprocessors has been completed.