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The International Space Station (ISS) requires advanced life support to continue its mission as a permanently-manned space laboratory and to reduce logistic resupply requirements as the Space Shuttle retires from service. Additionally, as humans reach to explore the moon and Mars, advanced vehicles and extraterrestrial bases will rely on life support systems that feature in-situ resource utilization to minimize launch weight and enhance mission capability. An obvious goal is the development of advanced systems that meet the requirements of both mission scenarios to reduce development costs by deploying common modules. A high pressure oxygen generating assembly (HPOGA) utilizing a high differential pressure (HDP) water electrolysis cell stack can provide a recharge capability for the high pressure oxygen storage tanks on-board the ISS independently of the Space Shuttle as well as offer a pathway for advanced life support equipment for future manned space exploration missions.

As the United States makes plans to return astronauts to the moon and eventually send them on to Mars, designing the most effective, efficient, and robust spacesuit life support system that will operate successfully in dusty environments is vital. Some knowledge has been acquired regarding the contaminants and level of infiltration that can be expected from lunar and Mars dust, however, risk mitigation strategies and filtration designs that will prevent contamination within a spacesuit life support system are yet undefined. A trade study was therefore initiated to identify and address these concerns, and to develop new requirements for the Constellation spacesuit element Portable Life Support System. This trade study investigated historical methods of controlling particulate contamination in spacesuits and space vehicles, and evaluated the possibility of using commercial technologies for this application. The trade study also examined potential filtration designs.

Humidity control within confined spaces is of great importance for current NASA environmental control systems and future exploration applications. The engineered multifunction surfaces (MFS) developed by ORBITEC is a technology that produces hydrophilic and antimicrobial surface properties on a variety of substrate materials. These properties combined with capillary geometry create the basis for a passive condensing heat exchanger (CHX) for applications in reduced gravity environments, eliminating the need for mechanical separators and particulate-based coatings. The technology may also be used to produce hydrophilic and biocidal surface properties on a range of materials for a variety of applications where bacteria and biofilms proliferate, and surface wetting is beneficial.

A long-duration lunar outpost will rely entirely upon imported or preserved foods to sustain the crew during early Lunar missions. Fresh, perishable foods (e.g. salad crops) would be consumed by the crew soon after delivery by the re-supply missions, and can provide a supplement to the diet rich in antioxidants (bioprotectants) that would serve as a countermeasure to radiation exposure. Although controlled environment research has been carried out on the growth of salad crops under a range of environmental conditions, there has been no demonstration of sustainable production in a flight-like system under conditions that might be encountered in space. Several fundamental challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve sustained salad crop production under the power, volume and mass constraints of early Lunar outposts include; growing multiple species, sustaining productivity through multiple plantings, and minimizing time for crew operations.

The design and evaluation of a Vacuum-Swing Adsorption (VSA) system to remove metabolic water and metabolic carbon dioxide from a spacecraft atmosphere is presented. The approach for Orion and Altair is a VSA system that removes not only 100 percent of the metabolic CO2 from the atmosphere, but also 100% of the metabolic water as well, a technology approach that has not been used in previous spacecraft life support systems. The design and development of an Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle Sorbent Based Atmosphere Revitalization system, including test articles, a facility test stand, and full-scale testing in late 2008 and early 2009 is discussed.

Water recovery is essential for long-duration space exploration transit and outpost missions. Primary stage wastewater recovery systems partially satisfy this need, and generate concentrated wastewater brines that are unusable without further processing. The Enhanced Brine Dewatering System (EBDS) is being developed to allow nearly complete recovery of water from Lunar Outpost wastewater brines. This paper describes the operation of the EBDS and discusses the development and testing of the major functional materials, components, and subsystems, including the wastewater brine ersatz formulations that are used in subsystem testing. The assembly progress of the EBDS full system prototype is also discussed, as well as plans for testing the prototype hardware.

In support of the Constellation Program, NASA conducted an analysis of crew clothing and laundry options. Disposable clothing is currently used in human space missions. However, the new mission duration, goals, launch penalties and habitat environments may lead to a different conclusion. Mass and volume for disposable clothing are major penalties in long-duration human missions. Equivalent System Mass (ESM) of crew clothing and hygiene towels was estimated at about 11% of total life support system ESM for a 4-crew, 10-year Lunar Outpost mission. Ways to lessen this penalty include: reduce clothing supply mass through using clothes made of advanced fabrics, reduce daily usage rate by extending wear duration and employing a laundry with reusable clothing. Lunar habitat atmosphere pressure and therefore oxygen volume percentage will be different from Space Station or Shuttle. Thus flammability of clothing must be revisited.

With the objective of establishing the ultimate steering operation system for drivers, we developed, based on bioengineering considerations, the Twin Lever Steering (TLS) system which mimicks the bi-articular muscles, as shown in Fig. 1 . The bioengineering advantages are as follows: (1) force can be exerted more easily, (2) the steering can be accomplished quickly, (3) the positioning can be done accurately, and (4) the burden on the driver can be reduced (less fatigue). The advantages of the vehicle in terms of its motion are as follows: (1) the line-traceability is improved, (2) the drift control is improved, (3) the lane-change capability is improved, and (4) the lap time and stability are improved. We would like to report on these advantages of the TLS system from a bioengineering standpoint, and also describe the results of some verification test results obtained from vehicles equipped with this new steering system.

Chronobiological studies elaborate the working of a biological clock, “the built-in timing device” in an organism and similarly define the creation of circadian rhythm of a human being. The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus of a human brain detects changes in the surrounding environment through the eyes and tends to affect this circadian rhythm which in turn affects human behavior, hormonal cycles, sleep deprivation and even driving or daily commute. Melatonin released due to the photopic and scotopic signals received by the brain controls the amount of “alertness” or “sleepiness” in commuters which can assist in improved efficiency and prevent accidents while driving. Since inadequate lighting scenarios can not only affect the optical activity and visual orientations it does also affect the non-visual sensory activities by inadvertently disorienting the circadian rhythm.

A life support system (LSS) is usually defined as a system that provides elements necessary for maintaining human life and health in the state required for performing a prescribed mission. The LSS, depending upon specific design requirements, will provide pressure, temperature, and composition of local atmosphere, food, and water. It may or may not collect, dispose, or reprocess wastes such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, urine, and feces. It can be seen from the preceding definition that LSS requirements may differ widely, depending on the mission specified, such as operation in Earth orbit or lunar mission. In all cases the time of operation is an important design factor. An LSS is sometimes briefly defined as a system providing atmospheric control and water, waste, and thermal management.

This standard covers the requirements for spherical, self-aligning, self-lubricating, bearings which are for use in the ambient temperature range of -65 to +160 °F (-54 to +71 °C) at high cyclic speeds 300 cpm (13 fpm) for liners with a thickness less than 0.015 inch. The scope of this standard is to provide a liner system qualification procedure for helicopter sliding bearings defined and controlled by source control drawings. Once a liner system is qualified, the source-controlled bearings are further tested under application conditions. Under Department of Defense (DoD) Policies and Procedures, any qualification requirements and associated Qualified Products List (QPLs) are mandatory for DoD contracts. Any materials relating to QPLs have not been adopted by SAE and are not part of this SAE technical document.

This document presents a catalog of safety sign text and artwork that can be used by any ready mixed concrete truck manufacturer to warn of common hazards.

Computational Fluid Dynamics airflow models for the Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) in the U.S. Laboratory module and Node 3 were developed and examined. The International Space Station (ISS) currently provides human waste collection and hygiene facilities in the Russian Segment Service Module (SM) which supports a three person crew. An additional set of Russian hardware, known as the system, is planned for the United States Operational Segment (USOS) to support expansion of the crew to six persons. Integration of the Russian system into the USOS incorporates direct Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) interfaces to allow more autonomous operation. A preliminary design concept was used to create a geometry model to evaluate the air interaction with the module cabin at varied locations and performance of the avionics fan placed in WHC. The Russian and the privacy protection bump-outs (Kabin) were included into the present modeling.

During an ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA), both the heat generated by the astronaut's metabolism and that produced by the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) must be rejected to space. The heat sources include the heat of adsorption of metabolic CO2, the heat of condensation of water, the heat removed from the body by the liquid cooling garment, the load from the electrical components and incident radiation. Although the sublimator hardware to reject this load weighs only 1.58 kg (3.48 lbm), an additional 3.6 kg (8 lbm) of water are loaded into the unit, most of which is sublimated and lost to space, thus becoming the single largest expendable during an eight-hour EVA. Using a radiator to reject heat from the astronaut during an EVA can reduce the amount of expendable water consumed in the sublimator. Radiators have no moving parts and are thus simple and highly reliable. However, past freezable radiators have been too heavy.

Looking back on steering systems in more than a hundred years that have passed since the introduction of the automobile, it can be seen that original method of controlling cars pulled by animals such as horses was by reins, and early automobiles had a single push-pull bar (tiller steering). That became the steering wheel, and an indirect steering mechanism by rotating up and down caught on. While the steering wheel is the main type of steering system in use today, the team have developed the Twin Lever Steering (TLS) system controlled mainly by bi-articular muscles, making use of advancements in science and technology and bioengineering to develop based on bioengineering considerations as shown in Fig. 1. The objective of that is to establish the ultimate steering operation system for drivers. In the first report, the authors reported on results found by using race-car prototypes as shown in Fig. 2.

This paper describes the Generic Modular Flow Schematic (GMFS) architecture capable of encompassing all functional elements of a physical/chemical life support system (LSS). The GMFS can be implemented to synthesize, model, analyze, and quantitatively compare many configurations of LSSs, from a simple, completely open-loop to a very complex closed-loop. The GMFS model is coded in ASPEN, a state-of-the art chemical process simulation program, to accurately compute the material, heat, and power flow quantities for every stream in each of the subsystem functional elements (SFEs) in the chosen configuration of a life support system. The GMFS approach integrates the various SFEs and subsystems in a hierarchical and modular fashion facilitating rapid substitutions and reconfiguration of a life support system. The comprehensive ASPEN material and energy balance output is transferred to a systems and technology assessment spreadsheet for rigorous system analysis and trade studies.

A model is being developed to quantitatively compare and select systems and technology option for defined missions envisioned in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 's (NASA's) Space Exploration Initiative. This model consists of a modular, top-down hierarchical break-down of the life support system (LSS) into subsystems, and further break-down of subsystems, into functional elements representing individual processing technologies. A series of papers titled Human Life Support During Interplanetary Travel and Domicile has been planned to describe the technique and results. Part I, presented at the 19th ICES Conference, describe the system approach. Part II, presented at this conference, describe Part III, this paper, describes results of a system trade study for a Mars Expedition mission comparing open and closed loop systems.

A model is being developed to quantitatively compare and select systems and technology options for defined missions envisioned in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Space Exploration Initiative. It consists of a modular, top-down hierarchical break-down of the life support system (LSS) into subsystems, and further break-down of subsystems into functional elements representing individual processing technologies. A series of papers titled “Human Life Support During Interplanetary Travel and Domicile” was planned to describe the technique and results. Part I, presented at the 19th ICES Conference, described the system approach. Parts II, III, and IV are presented at this conference. Part II describes the modeling technique. Part III describes results of a system trade study for a Mars Expedition Mission comparing open and closed loop systems.

The generation of submarines beyond Seawolf will require more sophisticated ship systems as the quest for absolute quiet, total reliability and unattended operation continues. The Submarine Advanced Integrated Life Support System (SAILS) is the result of analyses which first define, and then implement, technology development. SAILS is organized around the projected capability of and SPE® electrochemical cell which simultaneously coverts carbon dioxide to liquid organics and water to pure oxygen without the presence of gaseous hydrogen. Other technologies employed in the SAILS system include an SPE electrochemical absorbent Regeneration/CO2 Compression Subsystem, a liquid CO2 Absorber, an Organic Water Separator and a Catalytic Contaminant removal system. This paper presents an overview of the existing submarine life support equipment and describes the payoffs offered to a submarine by implementing SAILS technologies into a next generation life support system.

Organic, inorganic and physical water quality data are reported for water transpired by several species of higher plants using an engineering and scientific testbed for high-fidelity, biological water reclamation and recycling. Biologically-reclaimed water met NASA Shuttle potable and Space Station/Manned Systems Integration hygiene standards with regard to parameters tested without post-treatment. Water reclaimed from 10% urine showed a 100-fold reduction in organics and inorganics, demonstrating the efficiency of biological water reclamation and the usefulness of this testbed for scientific and engineering studies.