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The first step in verifying the design of the rodent Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF) as a barrier to environmental contaminants was successfully completed at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) during a 12-day bio-compatibility test. Environmental contaminants considered were solid particulates, microorganisms, ammonia, and odor-producing organics. The 12-day test at ARC was conducted in August 1988, and was designed to verify that the rodent RAHF system would adequately support and maintain animal specimens during normal system operations. Additional objectives of this test were to demonstrate that: 1) typical particulate debris produced by the animal, i.e., feces and food bar crumbs, would be captured by the system; 2) microorganisms would be contained; and 3) the passage of odor-producing organics and ammonia generated by the animals was adequately controlled. In addition, the amount of carbon dioxide exhausted by the RAHF system was to be quantified.

The Spacelab Life Sciences 2 mission (SLS-2) is the second in a planned series of dedicated Life Sciences missions utilizing the European Space Agency-provided Spacelab module. The mission, tentatively scheduled for a mid-1992 launch, will comprise a total of eighteen experiments encompassing both human and animal research. Eight of the eighteen experiments will involve animal life sciences research and will be managed by the Space Life Sciences Payloads Office (SLSPO) at NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC). The ARC payload complement of eight experiments will include six which use rodents and two which use primates (squirrel monkeys). SLS-2 provides an opportunity for even more extensive investigations into the effects of weightlessness upon the anatomy and physiology of rodent and primate systems.

The Space Station Freedom will provide a wealth of new opportunities for life sciences research in the microgravity environment of Earth orbit. Such research will require the long-term housing of plant and animal subjects, as well as cell and tissue culture support systems. In addition to newly designed plant and animal vivaria for micro-g, housing for control subjects at one g and fractional g will be required to provide scientific controls, support gravity threshold studies, and perform experiments at Lunar and Mars gravity levels. A natural adjunct to a set of microgravity vivaria in space is, therefore, a centrifuge which could expose the same specimens to variable gravity levels. The larger the centrifuge, the more subjects that can be housed, the smaller the gravity gradient on the subjects, and the smaller the Coriolis effects. Early studies recommended a 4.0 meter diameter centrifuge, the largest that could be accommodated in a Shuttle launchable module.

An inventory was made of the quantities and types of wastes to be produced by typical missions proposed by NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) for the initial operational phase (IOC) of the Space Station. Of the 35 missions inventoried, 21 missions involve “payloads” (instrument packages) attached externally to the Space Station, 12 involve payloads that are located on “free-flying” platforms remote from the Station and 2 missions, (Life Sciences and Materials Sciences laboratories) comprise a complex series of experiments to be carried out inside the Station's pressurized volume. The study objective was to acquire the information needed to define preliminary OSSA waste management requirements for the Space Station and the National Space Transportation System. The study revealed that all missions combined will generate approximately 5350 kg (11800 lbs) of waste (solid, liquid and gas) every 90 days.

An integrated engineering breadboard subsystem for the recovery of potable water from untreated urine was designed, fabricated and tested. It was fabricated from commercially available components without emphasis on weight, volume and power requirement optimization. Optimizing these parameters would make this process competitive with other spacecraft water recovery systems. Unlike other phase change systems, this process is based on the catalytic oxidation at elevated temperatures of ammonia and volatile hydrocarbons to innocuous products; therefore, no urine pretreatment is required. The testing program consisted of parametric tests, one month of daily tests, and a continuous run of 165 hours. The recovered water is low in ammonia, hydrocarbons and conductivity and requires only adjustment of its pH to meet drinking water standards.

The Life Sciences Glovebox will provide the bioisolated environment to support on-orbit operations involving non-human live specimens and samples for human life sciences experiments. It will be part of the Centrifuge Facility, in which animal and plant specimens are housed in bioisolated Habitat modules and transported to the Glovebox as part of the experiment protocols supported by the crew. At the Glovebox, up to two crew members and two Habitat modules must be accommodated to provide flexibility and support optimal operations. This paper will present several innovative design concepts that attempt to satisfy the basic Glovebox requirements. These concepts were evaluated for ergonomics and ease of operations using computer modeling and full-scale mockups. The more promising ideas were presented to scientists and astronauts for their evaluation. Their comments, and the results from other evaluations are presented.

This paper reports the results of a project supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (NASA-OAST) under the Advanced Life Support Development Program. It is an initial attempt to integrate artificial intelligence techniques (via expert systems) with conventional quantitative modeling tools for advanced physical-chemical life support systems. The addition of artificial intelligence techniques will assist the designer in the definition and simulation of loosely/well-defined life support processes/problems as well as assist in the capture of design knowledge, both quantitative and qualitative. Expert system and conventional modeling tools are integrated to provide a design workstation that assists the engineer/scientist in creating, evaluating, documenting and optimizing physical-chemical life support systems for short-term and extended duration missions.

Several studies performed in support of the Space Exploration Initiative have identified the need for development or improvement of new or existing regenerative life support process technologies. In part, the need to develop such technologies is dependent on the quantities of consumables that are required by the mission and hence on mission design. Trade studies will be needed to determine appropriate life support system designs that provide consumables to the crew and support systems and dispose of waste materials that are generated. These studies will require quantitative estimates of consumables and waste stream disposal requirements that support a given mission scenario. The NASA Exploration Programs Office (ExPO) is attempting to define the details and logistics of a design reference mission for the first human return to the Moon. The mission is referred to as the First Lunar Outpost.