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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.

An advanced trace gas monitoring system for long duration manned space missions - such as the International Space Station - is discussed. The system proposed is a combination of a Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) and a distributed ‘Smart Gas Sensor system (SGS). In a running multi-phase programme [1,2] the FTIR technology, applying novel analysis methods, has been demonstrated to handle multi-component gas measurements, including identification and quantification of 20 important trace gases in a mixture. In the current phase 3, initiated end of 1997, a fully operational FTIR technology demonstration model will be manufactured and tested. The SGS consists of an array of twenty electrically conductive polymer sensors supplemented with an array of quartz crystal microbalance sensors. The technology has been tested on the Russian MIR space station and is currently miniaturized into a second-generation flight model.

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 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.

This paper presents the status of ongoing BB studies for an optimized trace gas monitoring (TGM) system configured to simultaneously and quasi-online detect (quantitatively and qualitatively) 30 different trace gases in manned spacecraft. The system principle relies on the detection of molecule absorption lines in the infrared being converted into a measured spectrum by a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer. The work is based on 10 years study phases aiming now towards performance demonstration on unknown gas mixtures and an in-flight demonstration on Space Shuttle or ISS. The theoretical background, sensor combinations, SW principle descriptions and multi-module monitoring strategies have been reported earlier (please refer to reference [1] - [4], [6]).

In this paper, an advanced trace gas monitoring system for manned space cabins is presented. The principle of functioning of the measurement system is based on the detection of gas-specific absorption features in the Infrared area of the spectrum. The core element in the monitoring system is a Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer. When calibration is carried out applying sophisticated, novel analysis methods, the system can simultaneously detect and quantify all the interesting gases in manned space cabins. In a previous Trace Gas Monitoring multi-phase program (TGM 2) [1],[2], the FTIR technology has demonstrated its ability to handle multi-component, quasi on-line gas measurements, including identification and quantification of 23 important trace gases in a mixture. In the ongoing phase 3 (TGM 3), initiated end of 1997 [3], a fully operational FTIR technology demonstration model is tested being able to detect simultaneously 30 different trace gases in a mixture.