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International Space Station: Investing in Humanity’s Future

USC. U T I L I Z A T I O N • E V O L U T I O N • L I F E-E X T E N S I O N. International Space Station: Investing in Humanity’s Future. Space Station v1.5: Using ISS to Develop Technologies and Practices to Improve Utilization for ISS Life Extention Jeffrey L. Smith

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International Space Station: Investing in Humanity’s Future

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  1. USC U T I L I Z A T I O N • E V O L U T I O N • L I F E-E X T E N S I O N International Space Station:Investing in Humanity’s Future Space Station v1.5: Using ISS to Develop Technologies and Practices to Improve Utilization for ISS Life Extention Jeffrey L. Smith JLSmith322@gmail.com ASTE 527 December 15, 2009

  2. Problem • ISS is the most expensive 6-person national lab ever constructed • ISS is slated to be decommissioned by 2020 at the latest • Most national labs are not scrapped after a decade in service • Can we derive additional benefit beyond this date?

  3. Constraints/Opportunties • “Political Inertia” ensures that once a large program has been funded, it is more likely that it will continue to be funded into the future • Instead of decommissioning, other large scientific projects take advantage of new and emerging technologies, that are retrofitted onto existing capital investments and infrastructure, advancing to new capabilities or extending the life of existing capabilities • If ISS continues beyond 2020, how can its life be made more useful?

  4. Areas to Focus Improvements • Basic research - experiments • Increase the capability to do basic science • Give more PIs the chance to do their research • Engineering development – station itself • Test emerging space exploration technologies • Use technologies to drive down costs and increase astronaut effectiveness • Both of these require more efficient operations

  5. How to Improve Research Efficiency?Focus on Time and Money • ISS is best used for human tended experiments, which require • 1 Time – time to run experiments, record data, etc. • 2 Money – money to maintain the facility, re-supply, etc. • 3 examples of how to do this with rationales • 1 Regenerative life support system • 2 Increase available power for experiments and ECLSS with nuclear power, additional heat rejection • 3 Improve astronaut effectiveness with human factors

  6. Environmentally Closed Life Support System • Add 1 or more Russian modules to the station (can be launched by Protons, etc.) to provide space • Plants can be used to recycle air, water and wastes • Include growing and waste regeneration facilities • Growing plants can increase morale • Seeing live organisms • Eating fresh fruits and vegetables • ECLSS can decrease re-supply needs and increase morale, both of which improve astronaut effectiveness

  7. Power • Developing large scale reactors or RTGs will be useful for future applications (Moon/Mars voyages and bases) • Nuclear/VASIMR combo would be perfect for the future • Due to political concerns, this would be a perfect technology to team up with Russia on, design could be done jointly and then built in US while radioactive material is integrated in Russia • Russia also already possesses the radioactive material for such an operation

  8. Human Factors • Fans, pumps, other equipment lead to a very noisy environment • Astronauts aboard ISS as recently as 2006 were found to have permanent hearing loss • NASA has added Passive Noise Reduction with padding, better fans, mufflers to reduce noise to 60dB or less • High noise levels lead to headaches, fatigue, cardiovascular issues, stress, etc. • Astronauts aboard ISS still use earplugs 2-3 hours per day • Passive techniques have done about all they can

  9. Active Noise Reduction • Add ANR units to fans and pumps to decrease noise levels • Can be used selectively to target loudest “offenders” • Increase the comfort level of astronauts, improving productivity • Decrease chance of long turn damage

  10. Conclusion • During the next decade and beyond, ISS can be used as a testbed for a suite of new technologies to improve human spaceflight • This can be done by focusing on • 1 increasing the throughput of science experiments • 2 improving the quality of life of astronauts so they can focus on the most important tasks • 3 examples of this are: ECLSS, nuclear power, and ANR • Doing both of these can create the synergy to improve the quantity and quality of work done by humans in space

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