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This study was performed to aide in the creation of design requirements for the next generation of space suits that more accurately describe the level of mobility necessary for a suited crewmember through the use of an innovative methodology utilizing functional mobility. A novel method was utilized involving the collection of kinematic data while 20 subjects (10 male, 10 female) performed pertinent functional tasks that will be required of a suited crewmember during various phases of a lunar mission. These tasks were selected based on relevance and criticality from a larger list of tasks that may be carried out by the crew. Kinematic data was processed through Vicon BodyBuilder software to calculate joint angles for the ankle, knee, hip, torso, shoulder, elbow, and wrist. Maximum functional mobility was consistently lower than maximum isolated mobility.

This work describes the microbiological assessment and materials compatibility of a silver-based biocide as an alternative to iodine for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and future spacecraft potable water systems. In addition to physical and operational anti-microbial counter-measures, the prevention of microbial growth, biofilm formation, and microbiologically induced corrosion in water distribution and storage systems requires maintenance of a biologically-effective, residual biocide concentration in solution and on the wetted surfaces of the system. Because of the potential for biocide depletion in water distribution systems and the development of acquired biocide resistance within microbial populations, even sterile water with residual biocide may, over time, support the growth and/or proliferation of bacteria that pose a risk to crew health and environmental systems.

Selecting the appropriate atmosphere for a spacecraft and mission is a complicated problem. NASA has previously used atmospheres from Earth normal composition and pressure to pure oxygen at low pressures. Future exploration missions will likely strike a compromise somewhere between the two, trying to balance operation impacts on EVA, safety concerns for flammability and health risks, life science and physiology questions, and other issues. Life support systems and internal thermal control systems are areas that will have to respond to changes in the atmospheric composition and pressure away from the Earth-like conditions currently used on the International Space Station. This paper examines life support and internal thermal control technologies currently in use or in development to find what impacts in design, efficiency and performance, or feasibility might be expected.

NASA and the U.S. Army have designed, developed, and tested a Computer Aiding for Low-Altitude Helicopter Flight guidance system. This system provides guidance to the pilot for near-terrain covert helicopter operations. The guidance is presented to the pilot through symbology on a helmet mounted display. This system has demonstrated the feasibility of a pilot-centered concept of terrain flight guidance that preserves pilot flexibility and authority. The system was developed using extensive piloted simulation and then implemented in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for flight development and evaluation. A close correlation between simulation and actual flight was found; however, in flight overall pilot workload increased and performance decreased. This paper presents a description of the basic system design, simulation, and flight evaluations.

Long duration manned space missions will require integrated biological and physicochemical processes for recovery of resources from wastes. This paper discusses a hybrid regenerative biological and physicochemical water recovery system designed and built at NASA's Crew and Thermal Systems Division (CTSD) at Johnson Space Center (JSC). The system is sized for a four-person crew and consists of a two-stage, aerobic, trickling filter bioreactor; a reverse osmosis system; and a photocatalytic oxidation system. The system was designed to accommodate high organic and inorganic loadings and a low hydraulic loading. The bioreactor was designed to oxidize organics to carbon dioxide and water; the reverse osmosis system reduces inorganic content to potable quality; and the photocatalytic oxidation unit removes residual organic impurities (part per million range) and provides in-situ disinfection. The design and performance of the hybrid system for producing potable/hygiene water is described.

For reasons of safety as well as cost, increasingly lengthy space missions at unprecedented distances from Earth in the 21st century will require reductions in consumables and increases in the autonomy of spacecraft life support systems. Advanced life support technologies can increase mission productivity and enhance science yield by achieving reductions in the mass, volume, and power required to support human needs for long periods of time in sterile and hostile environments. Current investment in developing advanced life support systems for orbital research facilities will increase the productivity of these relatively near-term missions, while contributing to the technology base necessary for future human exploration missions.

This paper describes the current United States Laboratory (USL) outfitting following the transition from Space Station Freedom to International Space Station (ISS). The ISS USL is outfitted with eleven systems racks, an optical quality nadir window for earth viewing experiments and accommodations for thirteen International Standard Payload Racks (ISPRs). The international payloads utilize this outfitting in a “shirt sleeve” environment by sharing allocated system resources and flight crew time to perform long term microgravity experiments. These systems resources include Command and Data Handling, 120 Vdc power, liquid and air cooling, audio and video communication, space vacuum and location dependent levels of microgravity. The ISS USL outfitting configuration, user interfaces, systems performance and environmental conditions are included in this ICES paper.

Advanced life support systems require computer controls which deliver a high degree of reliability and autonomy and meet life support criteria. Such control systems must allow crewmembers on long-term missions to perform their scientific and engineering duties while minimizing interactions with life support systems. Control systems must be the “brains” of life support systems providing air, water, edible biomass, and recycling services. They must establish and maintain life support components in an optimized manner, providing self-sufficient infrastructures independent of Earth-based resupply. The CELSS (Controlled Ecological Life Support System) Breadboard Project has implemented such a computerized component of a future mission. The Universal Networked Data Acquisition and Control Engine (UNDACE) is the software interface between humans and hardware controlling plant growth experiments.

This paper describes the current USL outfitting with design and development changes incorporated during the past year. The International Space Station (ISS) USL is outfitted with eleven systems racks, an optical quality nadir window for earth viewing experiments and accommodations for thirteen International Standard Payload Racks (ISPRs). International payloads utilize this outfitting in a “shirt sleeve” environment by sharing allocated system resources and flight crew time to perform long term microgravity experiments. Recent changes in Command and Data Handling, 120 Vdc power, liquid and air cooling, audio and video communication, space vacuum and microgravity systems resources are included. User interfaces, systems performance and environmental conditions, in addition to the ISS USL outfitting configuration, are also updated in this ICES paper.

A number of amine-based carbon dioxide (CO2) removal systems have been developed for atmosphere revitalization in closed loop life support systems. Most recently, Hamilton Sundstrand has developed an amine-based sorbent, designated SA9T, possessing approximately 2-fold greater capacity compared to previous formulations. This new formulation has demonstrated applicability for controlling CO2 levels within vehicles and habitats as well as during extravehicular activity (EVA). Our current data demonstrates an amine-based system volume which is competitive with existing technologies which use metal oxides (Metox) and lithium hydroxide sorbents. Further enhancements in system performance can be realized by incorporating humidity and trace contaminant control functions within an amine-based atmosphere revitalization system. A 3-year effort to develop prototype hardware capable of removing CO2, H2O, and trace contaminants from a cabin atmosphere has been initiated.

Aviation Data Integration System (ADIS) project explores methods and techniques for integrating heterogeneous aviation data to support aviation problem-solving activity. Aviation problem-solving activities include: engineering troubleshooting, incident and accident investigation, routine flight operations monitoring, flight plan deviation monitoring, safety assessment, maintenance procedure debugging, and training assessment. To provide optimal quality of service, ADIS utilizes distributed intelligent agents including data collection agents, coordinator agents and mediator agents. This paper describes the proposed agent-based architecture of the Aviation Data Integration System (ADIS).

NASA's plans to implement the Vision for Space Exploration include extensive human-robot cooperation across an enterprise spanning multiple missions, systems, and decades. To make this practical, strong enterprise-level interface standards (data, power, communication, interaction, autonomy, and physical) will be required early in the systems and technology development cycle. Such standards should affect both the engineer and operator roles that humans adopt in their interactions with robots. For the engineer role, standards will result in reduced development lead-times, lower cost, and greater efficiency in deploying such systems. For the operator role, standards will result in common autonomy and interaction modes that reduce operator training, minimize workload, and apply to many different robotic platforms. Reduced quantities of spare hardware could also be a benefit of standardization.

Under a NASA-sponsored technology development project, a multi-disciplinary team consisting of industry, academia, and government organizations lead by Hamilton Sundstrand is developing an amine-based humidity and CO2 removal process and prototype equipment for Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) applications. Originally this project sought to research enhanced amine formulations and incorporate a trace contaminant control capability into the sorbent. In October 2005, NASA re-directed the project team to accelerate the delivery of hardware by approximately one year and emphasize deployment on board the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) as the near-term developmental goal. Preliminary performance requirements were defined based on nominal and off-nominal conditions and the design effort was initiated using the baseline amine sorbent, SA9T.

The inability of available situation displays to provide a decelerating instrument approach capability to a hover led to a flight research program in which control-command information was displayed for three degrees of freedom. The test aircraft (NASA's CH-46C in-flight simulator) was stabilized with high-gain attitude command system. Using this system, the pilot was able to decelerate the aircraft to a hover while simultaneously following a 6 deg glidepath. Although these tests demonstrate the potential of this concept, a number of factors, including adequate integration of command and situation information, were identified as affecting pilot acceptance of the system.

NASA is working to develop a new lunar lander to support lunar exploration. The development process that the Altair project is using for this vehicle is unlike most others. In “Lander Design Analysis Cycle 1” (LDAC-1), a single-string, minimum functionality design concept was developed, including life support systems for different vehicle configuration concepts. The first configuration included an ascent vehicle and a habitat with integral airlocks. The second concept analyzed was a combined ascent vehicle-habitat with a detachable airlock. In LDAC-2, the Altair team took the ascent vehicle-habitat with detachable airlock and analyzed the design for the components that were the largest contributors to the risk of loss of crew (LOC). For life support, the largest drivers were related to oxygen supply and carbon dioxide control. Integrated abort options were developed at the vehicle level.