Search Results

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.

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.

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.