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Flory, D. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Flory, D. A..

Development of reclaimed potable water quality criteria

In order to minimize launch requirements necessary to meet the demands of long-term spaceflight, NASA will reuse water reclaimed from various on-board sources including urine, feces, wash water and humidity condensate. Development of reclamation systems requires the promulgation of water quality standards for potable reuse of the reclaimed water. Existing standards for domestic U.S. potable water consumption were developed, but do not consider the peculiar problems associated with the potable reuse of recycled water. An effort was made to: (1) define a protocol by which comprehensive reclaimed water potability/palatability criteria can be established and updated; and (2) continue the effort to characterize the organic content of reclaimed water in the Regenerative Life Support Evaluation.

Flory, D. A.↗

Organic contamination problems in the Viking molecular analysis experiment

A principal problem in interpreting the results of an organic analysis of an extraterrestrial sample is that of distinguishing contaminating material from indigenous material when unknown types and amounts of contaminants make their way into the sample being analyzed. An approach to control of sample integrity in the Viking molecular analysis experiment has been devised which it is believed, will eliminate such problems. Basically this involves (1) placing an upper limit on the amount of terrestrial contamination that can be tolerated and still allow scientifically meaningful analysis, (2) identifying the potential sources of contamination and analyzing their relative significance, (3) establishing methods to control these sources, and (4) obtaining complete information on the chemical composition of potential contaminants. Previous experience in the Apollo mission has been of great value in developing the Viking program, perhaps the most important carryover being the recognition of the importance of establishing a comprehensive contamination control program in the early stages of mission planning and hardware design.

Flory, D. A.↗

Environmental control of lunar samples in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory

The contamination controls used in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory during the processing of lunar samples are described. Initially, the lunar sample containers were opened and the material was examined in a vacuum complex with approximated lunar surface conditions. The process of examining and distributing the samples from this vacuum complex was time consuming. During both Apollo 11 and 12 missions portions of the lunar samples were processed for allocation in a small sterile glove box in a dry nitrogena atmosphere. After Apollo 12 a new system was installed based upon the experience gained from the small glove box. The system uses dry nitrogen as an environmental blanket and has the capability of being sterilized and of maintaining this sterility.

Reynolds, M. A.↗

Organic contamination monitoring and control in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory

An assessment of the nature and amount of organic matter present in returned lunar material has been one of the major scientific goals of the Apollo programs. The small amounts of organic matter expected to be indigenous to the lunar material can be easily detected by the analytical instrumentation used in organic geochemistry. The integrity of the lunar samples could, therefore, only be maintained by carefully controlling the collection, processing, and analyses of the lunar material. The procedures for contamination control are discussed along with the experimental approaches.

Simoneit, B. R.↗

Terrestrial contamination in Apollo lunar samples.

The contamination prevention procedures adopted for controlling the collection, processing, and analysis of the Apollo lunar samples in order to keep them free of significant levels of terrestrial organic matter are described. The organic contaminants actually found in the samples by the various investigators are summarized. It is shown that the program succeeded in providing investigators with samples containing less than 0.1 ppm total contamination.

Flory, D. A.↗

Analysis of organogenic compounds in Apollo 11, 12, and 14 lunar samples.

DCl was used to distinguish hydrocarbons produced by acid treatment from hydrocarbons originally present in the samples when volatiles released by acid and thermal treatments from Apollo 11, 12, and 14 lunar samples were studied by quadrupole mass spectrometry and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Multiple ion plotting permitted separation of deuterated from nondeuterated hydrocarbons in the DCl products. Stepwise thermal treatment was used to distinguish the source of the volatile compounds. The presence of LM rocket exhaust products was traced in two samples, and the presence of high-temperature stable nitrides in some samples is indicated.

Flory, D. A.↗