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NASA NTRS2015

Space Launch System Co-Manifested Payload Options for Habitation

The Space Launch System (SLS) has a co-manifested payload capability that will grow over time as the rocket matures and planned upgrades are implemented. The final configuration is planned to be capable of inserting a payload greater than 10 metric tons (mt) into a trans-lunar injection trajectory along with the crew in the Orion capsule and the service module. The co-manifested payload is located below the Orion and its service module in a 10-meter high fairing similar to the way the Saturn launch vehicle carried the lunar lander below the Apollo command and service modules. A variety of approaches have been explored that utilizes this co-manifested payload capability to build up infrastructure in deep space in support of future asteroid, lunar, and Mars mission scenarios. This paper is a report on the findings from the Advanced Concepts Office study team at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, working with the Advanced Exploration Systems Program on the Exploration Augmentation Module Project. It includes some of the possible options for habitation in the co-manifested payload volume on SLS. Findings include module designs that can be developed in 10mt increments to support these missions, including overall conceptual layouts, mass properties, and approaches for integration into various scenarios for near-term support of deep space habitat research and technology development, support to asteroid exploration, and long range support for Mars transfer flights.

Smitherman, David↗

NASA NTRS2015

Multigenerational Independent Colony for Extraterrestrial Habitation, Autonomy, and Behavior Health (MICEHAB): An Investigation of a Long Duration, Partial Gravity, Autonomous Rodent Colony

The path from Earth to Mars requires exploration missions to be increasingly Earth-independent as the foundation is laid for a sustained human presence in the following decades. NASA pioneering of Mars will expand the boundaries of human exploration, as a sustainable presence on the surface requires humans to successfully reproduce in a partial gravity environment independent from Earth intervention. Before significant investment is made in capabilities leading to such pioneering efforts, the challenges of multigenerational mammalian reproduction in a partial gravity environment need be investigated. The Multi-generational Independent Colony for Extraterrestrial Habitation, Autonomy, and Behavior health is designed to study these challenges. The proposed concept is a conceptual, long duration, autonomous habitat designed to house rodents in a partial gravity environment with the goal of understanding the effects of partial gravity on mammalian reproduction over multiple generations and how to effectively design such a facility to operate autonomously while keeping the rodents healthy in order to achieve multiple generations. All systems are designed to feed forward directly to full-scale human missions to Mars. This paper presents the baseline design concept formulated after considering challenges in the mission and vehicle architectures such as: vehicle automation, automated crew health management/medical care, unique automated waste disposal and hygiene, handling of deceased crew members, reliable long-duration crew support systems, and radiation protection. This concept was selected from an architectural trade space considering the balance between mission science return and robotic and autonomy capabilities. The baseline design is described in detail including: transportation and facility operation constraints, artificial gravity system design, habitat design, and a full-scale mock-up demonstration of autonomous rodent care facilities. The proposed concept has the potential to integrate into existing mission architectures in order to achieve exploration objectives, and to demonstrate and mature common capabilities that enable a range of destinations and missions.

Rodgers, Erica M.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Usable Translational Hand Controllers for NASA's Habitability Design Center

This summer I was given the opportunity to work at the Habitability Design Center (HDC). NASA Johnson Space Center's HDC is currently developing Cislunar and Mars spacecraft mockups. I contributed to this effort by designing from scratch low cost, functional translational hand controllers (THCs) that will be used in spacecraft mission simulation in low to medium fidelity exploration spacecraft mockups. This project fell under the category of mechatronics, a combination of mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. Being an aerospace engineering student, I was out of my comfort zone. And that was a wonderful thing. The autonomy that my mentor, Dr. Robert Howard, allowed me gave me the opportunity to learn by trying, failing, and trying again. This project was not only a professional success for me, but a significant learning experience. I appreciated the freedom that I had to take the time to learn new things for myself rather than blindly follow instructions. I was the sole person working on this project, and was required to work independently to solve the many hardware and software challenges that the project entailed. I researched THCs that have been used on the ISS, the Space Shuttle, and the Orion MPVC and based my design off of these. I worked through many redesigns before finding an optimal configuration of the necessary mechanisms and electrical components for the THC. Once I had a functional hardware design, I dove into the challenge of getting an Arduino Uno, an extremely low cost and easily programmable microcontroller, to behave as a human interface device. The THCs I built needed to be able to integrate to a mission simulation designed by NASA's Graphics and Visualization Lab. This proved to be the most challenging aspect of the project. To accomplish this I learned how to change the firmware of the USB serial converter microcontroller. The process was very complicated as it involved multiple software programs and manual flashing of pins on the Arduino itself. When I successfully achieved the goal I wrote an instructions manual for the process so that the HDC will be able to do this easily in the future for any human interface device they may want to create. I also created a detailed CAD model of my THC design with construction instructions. My THC utilizes three ultrasonic sensors, one for each axis of motion. I wrote a code that stimulates these sensors continuously and feeds back values from each axis ranging from -%100 to %100 of the min/max position in relation to the neutral position of each axis. This was the data that the Graphics and Visualization Lab required to interface with their simulation. I truly enjoyed working in the HDC surrounded by passionate, proactive, and brilliantly creative people. I felt valued and respected as a part of their team. I was given the time and support of my mentor whenever I asked for it. Beyond my positive project experience, I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of many of the extra activities that JSC has to offer. I took Russian Phase One during my lunch break every day and can now read Russian and accomplish basic verbal communication. I was heavily involved with the co-tern music video, which led to numerous incredible experiences and friendships. I saw every facility, attended every lecture, and met everyone that I could. I had coffee with Lauri Hansen. I played on an intern volleyball team at the Gilruth. I traveled to Michoud, Stennis, NOLA, and Big Bend National Park. I had the time of my life and I fell in love with JSC. In the next month I will return to Maryland and start my senior year of my undergraduate degree. As I work through it I will remember that all of the studying I do, all of the concentration I give, and all of the sacrifices that I make for school are so that I can work at a place like JSC where I am proud and excited to go into work every day. This internship was an invaluable experience for me, both professionally and personally.

Westbrook, Kimberly↗

NASA NTRS2017

Computational Modeling to Limit the Impact Displays and Indicator Lights Have on Habitable Volume Operational Lighting Constraints

NASA has demonstrated an interest in improving astronaut health and performance through the installment of a new lighting countermeasure on the International Space Station. The Solid State Lighting Assembly (SSLA) system is designed to positively influence astronaut health by providing a daily change to light spectrum to improve circadian entrainment. Unfortunately, existing NASA standards and requirements define ambient light level requirements for crew sleep and other tasks, yet the number of light-emitting diode (LED) indicators and displays within a habitable volume is currently uncontrolled. Because each of these light sources has its own unique spectral properties, the additive lighting environment ends up becoming something different from what was planned or researched. Restricting the use of displays and indicators is not a solution because these systems provide beneficial feedback to the crew. The research team for this grant used computer-based computational modeling and real-world lighting mockups to document the impact that light sources other than the ambient lighting system contribute to the ambient spectral lighting environment. In particular, the team was focused on understanding the impacts of long-term tasks located in front of avionics or computer displays. The team also wanted to understand options for mitigating the changes to the ambient light spectrum in the interest of maintaining the performance of a lighting countermeasure. The project utilized a variety of physical and computer-based simulations to determine direct relationships between system implementation and light spectrum. Using real-world data, computer models were built in the commercially available optics analysis software Zemax Optics Studio(c). The team also built a mockup test facility that had the same volume and configuration as one of the Zemax models. The team collected over 1200 spectral irradiance measurements, each representing a different configuration of the mockup. Analysis of the data showed a measurable impact on ambient light spectrum. This data showed that obvious design techniques exist that can be used to bind the ambient light spectrum closer to the planned spectral operating environment for the observer's eye point. The following observations should be considered when designing an operational environment that is dominated by computer displays. When more light is directed into the field of view of the observer, the greater the impact it will make on various human factors issues that depend on spectral shape and intensity. Because viewing angle has a large part to play in the amount of light flux on the crewmember's retina, beam shape, combined with light source location is an important factor for determining percent probable incident flux on the observer from any combination of light sources. Computer graphics design and display lumen output are major factors influencing the amount of spectrally intense light projected into the environment and in the viewer's direction. Use of adjustable white point display software was useful only if the predominant background color was white and if it matched the ambient light system's color. Display graphics that used a predominantly black background had the least influence on unplanned spectral energy projected into the environment. Percent reflectance makes a difference in total energy reflected back into an environment, and within certain architectural geometries, reflectance can be used to control the amount of a light spectrum that is allowed to perpetuate in the environment. Data showed that room volume and distance from significant light sources influence the total spectrum in a room. Smaller environments had a homogenizing effect on total light spectrum, whereas light from multiple sources in larger environments was less mixed. The findings indicated above should be considered when making recommendations for practice or standards for architectural systems. The ambient lighting system, surface reflectance, and display and indicator implementation all factor into the users' spectral environment. A variety of low-cost solutions exist to mitigate the impact of light from non-architectural lighting systems, and much potential for system automation and integration of display systems with the ambient environment. This team believes that proper planning can be used to avoid integration problems and also believes that human-in-the-loop evaluations, real-world test and measurement, and computer modeling can be used to determine how changes to a process, display graphics, and architecture will help maintain the planned spectral operating lighting environment.

Clark, T. A.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Computational Modeling to Limit the Impact Displays and Indicator Lights Have on Habitable Volume Operational Lighting Constraints

Clark, T. A.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Data Sharing in Astrobiology: The Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED)

Astrobiology is a multidisciplinary area of scientific research focused on studying the origins of life on Earth and the conditions under which life might have emerged elsewhere in the universe. NASA uses the results of Astrobiology research to help define targets for future missions that are searching for life elsewhere in the universe. The understanding of complex questions in Astrobiology requires integration and analysis of data spanning a range of disciplines including biology, chemistry, geology, astronomy and planetary science. However, the lack of a centralized repository makes it difficult for Astrobiology teams to share data and benefit from resultant synergies. Moreover, in recent years, federal agencies are requiring that results of any federally funded scientific research must be available and useful for the public and the science community. The Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED), developed with a consolidated group of astrobiologists from different active research teams at NASA Ames Research Center, is designed to help to address these issues. AHED is a central, high-quality, long-term data repository for mineralogical, textural, morphological, inorganic and organic chemical, isotopic and other information pertinent to the advancement of the field of Astrobiology.

Define targets for futire missions↗

NASA NTRS2017

Data Sharing in Astrobiology: the Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED)

Bristow, Thomas↗

NASA NTRS2017

Coastal California's Fog as a Unique Habitable Niche: Design for Autonomous Sampling and Preliminary Aerobiological Characterization

Just as on the land or in the ocean, atmospheric regions may be more or less hospitable to life. The aerobiosphere, or collection of living things in Earth's atmosphere, is poorly understood due to the small number and ad hoc nature of samples studied. However, we know viable airborne microbes play important roles, such as providing cloud condensation nuclei. Knowing the distribution of such microorganisms and how their activity can alter water, carbon, and other geochemical cycles is key to developing criteria for planetary habitability, particularly for potential habitats with wet atmospheres but little stable surface water. Coastal California has regular, dense fog known to play a major transport role in the local ecosystem. In addition to the significant local (1 km) geographical variation in typical fog, previous studies have found that changes in height above surface of as little as a few meters can yield significant differences in typical concentrations, populations and residence times. No single current sampling platform (ground-based impactors, towers, balloons, aircraft) is capable of accessing all of these regions of interest.A novel passive fog and cloud water sampler, consisting of a lightweight passive impactor suspended from autonomous aerial vehicles (UAVs), is being developed to allow 4D point sampling within a single fog bank, allowing closer study of small-scale (100 m) system dynamics. Fog and cloud droplet water samples from low-altitude aircraft flights in nearby coastal waters were collected and assayed to estimate the required sample volumes, flight times, and sensitivity thresholds of the system under design.125 cloud water samples were collected from 16 flights of the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) instrumented Twin Otter, equipped with a sampling tube collector, occurring between 18 July and 12 August 2016 below 1 km altitude off the central coast. The collector was flushed first with 70 ethanol, then with sterile DI water, between sampling regions. Collected volumes ranged from 100 L to 12 mL. All samples were diluted serially and plated on two different types of agar, nutrient-dense (PCA) and sparse (R-2A). Plates were incubated at room temperature and counted when colonies first appeared and again at 2 weeks.Preliminary results from seven flights are consistent with generally reported colony-forming unit (CFU) values for terrestrial fog water (e.g., [4]). The PCA assay ranged from 400 to 125,000 CFU/mL, R-2A from 700 to 130,000 CFU/mL. PCA and R-2A counts were not significantly different from each other at I^ plus or minus +/- 0.05, although observationally, the R2A plates had more pigmented colonies. CFU counts from the majority of flights were not different from each other in mean at the same level of significance, but about half differed in median, indicating differences in underlying distribution. These results validate the presence of viable microorganisms in coastal California fog at levels that should be easily detectable by our sampling system. The indicated distribution differences underscore the need for small-scale, long-term sampling surveys. Future planned work includes ion chromatography for limiting nutrients, ATP quantification, and qPCR for several microbial classes of interest.

Coastal↗

NASA NTRS2017

Digital Cellular Solid Pressure Vessels: A Novel Approach for Human Habitation in Space

It is widely assumed that human exploration beyond Earth's orbit will require vehicles capable of providing long duration habitats that simulate an Earth-like environment - consistent artificial gravity, breathable atmosphere, and sufficient living space- while requiring the minimum possible launch mass. This paper examines how the qualities of digital cellular solids - high-performance, repairability, reconfigurability, tunable mechanical response - allow the accomplishment of long-duration habitat objectives at a fraction of the mass required for traditional structural technologies. To illustrate the impact digital cellular solids could make as a replacement to conventional habitat subsystems, we compare recent proposed deep space habitat structural systems with a digital cellular solids pressure vessel design that consists of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) digital cellular solid cylindrical framework that is lined with an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) skin. We use the analytical treatment of a linear specific modulus scaling cellular solid to find the minimum mass pressure vessel for a structure and find that, for equivalent habitable volume and appropriate safety factors, the use of digital cellular solids provides clear methods for producing structures that are not only repairable and reconfigurable, but also higher performance than their conventionally manufactured counterparts.

Robotics↗

NASA NTRS2017

Habitable Exoplanet Imager: Optical Telescope Structural Design and Performance Prediction

Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) is a concept for a mission to directly image and characterize planetary systems around Sun-like stars. In addition to the search for life on Earth-like exoplanets, HabExwill enable a broad range of general astrophysics science enabled by 100 to 2500 nm spectral range and 3 x 3 arc-minute FOV. HabExis one of four mission concepts currently being studied for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey.

Space Mirror Technolog↗

NASA NTRS2017

Habitable Exoplanet Imager Optical-Mechanical Design and Analysis

The Habitable Exoplanet Imager (HabEx) is a space telescope currently in development whose mission includes finding and spectroscopically characterizing exoplanets. Effective high-contrast imaging requires tight stability requirements of the mirrors to prevent issues such as line of sight and wavefront errors. PATRAN and NASTRAN were used to model updates in the design of the HabEx telescope and find how those updates affected stability. Most of the structural modifications increased first mode frequencies and improved line of sight errors. These studies will be used to help define the baseline HabEx telescope design.

Habe↗

NASA NTRS2017

Data Sharing in Astrobiology: The Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED)

Origins of life on Earth↗

NASA NTRS2018

Assessment and Mitigation of the Effects of Noise on Habitability in Deep Space Environments: Report on Non-Auditory Effects of Noise

This document reviews non-auditory effects of noise relevant to habitable volume requirements in cislunar space. The non-auditory effects of noise in future long-term space habitats are likely to be impactful on team and individual performance, sleep, and cognitive well-being. This report has provided several recommendations for future standards and procedures for long-term space flight habitats, along with recommendations for NASA's Human Research Program in support of DST mission success.

noise↗

NASA NTRS2018

Steps Toward Improved Integration, Search, and Analysis of Heterogeneous Data in the Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database

The Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED) is a new data system being developed as a long-term, open-access repository for astrobiology data. AHED is intended to store user-contributed results from NASA or externally-funded research in astrobiology, and to encourage sharing and synergy within the astrobiology community. However, the interdisciplinary nature of astrobiology presents some specific challenges to data management, integration, and analysis within AHED. In some disciplines (e.g., genomics), open databases thrive because the contributed products are fairly uniform and standardized (e.g., sequence data). In astrobiology, each investigation produces a unique set of data products; this makes it difficult to search across different datasets to find similar data, or to combine results from separate investigations. With AHED, we are taking steps to ensure there is adequate metadata - both at the dataset and record levels - to facilitate search, integration, and analysis. At the dataset level, we are developing a new metadata standard for describing astrobiology datasets, with detailed information about content, funding source, and scientific relevance, along with a set of topical keywords for characterizing datasets. At the record level, we are encouraging users to provide more structured content and finer-grained metadata. In many user-contributed science data repositories, few restrictions are placed on the uploaded data format, and minimal or no record-level metadata is required; thus users are unburdened when it comes to data preparation. The tradeoff is that deep integration and search across datasets is almost impossible without standardized structures and metadata. Although AHED users are free to upload minimally-described datasets, they will be encouraged to use database authoring tools (supplied by the underlying platform - Open Data Repository's Data Publisher) plus a set of customizable astrobiology-specific templates to help structure their data and provide standardized metadata. In reward for their extra effort, AHED will be able to deliver enhanced search, discovery, and analysis capabilities.

astrobiology↗

NASA NTRS2018

Prospecting for Habitable Planets

NASA's Kepler Mission was launched in March 2009 as NASA's first mission capable of finding Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars, that range of distances for which liquid water would pool on the surface of a rocky planet. Kepler has discovered over 1000 planets and over 4600 candidates, many of them as small as the Earth. Today, Kepler's amazing success seems to be a fait accompli to those unfamiliar with her history. But twenty years ago, there were no planets known outside our solar system, and few people believed it was possible to detect tiny Earth-size planets orbiting other stars. Motivating NASA to select Kepler for launch required a confluence of the right detector technology, advances in signal processing and algorithms, and the power of supercomputing.

Kepler Mission↗

NASA NTRS2016

Storage of Physical Sample Metadata in the Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has begun an effort to store, curate, and publish information about physical samples collected and analyzed in conjunction with NASA-funded astrobiology research. Astrobiology is a multidisciplinary area of scientific research being conducted by collaborating teams of biologists, chemists, geologists, atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, astrophysicists, astronomers, and other specialists. Astrobiology studies the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Universe. NASA uses the results of astrobiology research to focus its future missions on targets of opportunity for the discovery of life off Earth. Astrobiology researchers conduct both field-based and laboratory-based research, during which physical samples are collected, processed, and catalogued. The cataloguing practices employed by different teams of astrobiologists vary widely, and there are no specific standards available to guide the collection and recording of astrobiology sample data. The disparity in data collection approaches and the lack of a centralized sample repository makes it difficult for astrobiology teams to share data and benefit from resultant synergies.To facilitate data sharing within the astrobiology community, NASA is developing a prototype database the Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED) and an associated set of data collection templates. The database will store information about samples, along with associated measurements and analyses, including information about biological cultures enriched or isolated from samples, and the results of analyses performed on the samples (e.g., via spectrography, microscopy, etc.). In addition, the system will store contextual information about field sites where samples were collected, the instruments or equipment used for analysis, and people and institutions involved in their collection. AHED is being implemented on top of Open Data Repository's Data Publisher [1], an open source software platform for the publication of scientific datasets. The data collection templates under development represent an initial attempt to propose a set of metadata for capture and storage within AHED. The design of these templates is being conducted by a consolidated group of astrobiologists from active research teams at NASA Ames Research Center, assisted by data science and software engineering specialists. These initial templates must be vetted with the broader astrobiology community through a defined process to ensure that they meet community needs. Each template captures a different type of data collection record. For each template, we are developing a list of fields to be captured, including a set of required entry fields, a set of recommended but optional fields, and a set of discretionary fields. A datatype selected from a variety of text and numeric types is specified for each field. Included is a 'choice' type that restricts user input to an enumerated list of values. Many of the fields and field values capture information of particular interest to the astrobiology community, and are intended to facilitate search and retrieval of relevant data across multiple datasets.

Keller, Rich↗

NASA NTRS2015

NASA's Rodent Research Project on ISS: Validation of a New Platform for Conducting Biomedical and Basic Research into the Consequences of Long Duration Habitation in Space

Rodent research has played a key role in advancing biomedical discoveries both on Earth and in space. The National Research Counsel’s Decadal survey(1) emphasized the importance of expanding NASAs life sciences research to perform long duration, rodent experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). To accomplish this objective, flight hardware, operations, and science capabilities were developed at NASA ARC to support both commercial and government-sponsored rodent research.Rodent Research-1 (RR-1) was the first mission in which animals were delivered and maintained in the ISS for a long duration mission in modified Animal Enclosure Module hardware. Both RR validation and commercial science objectives were pursued on the RR-1 mission. Adult female mice (20 total Flight, FLT) were launched Sept 21, 2014 in RR hardware within a Dragon Capsule (SpaceX4), then after 4 days in transit, were transferred for habitation on the ISS for 17 days (commercial) or 33 days (validation), when animals were euthanized and select tissues recovered on orbit. Various controls groups consisted of: 1) Basal mice from the same cohorts as FLT mice, but tissues were recovered at time of launch, 2) Vivarium (VIV) were housed in standard cages 3) Ground Controls (GC) were housed in flight hardware within an environmental chamber at Kennedy Space Center. The health and behavior of all mice on the ISS were monitored by video feed on a daily basis. Mice were euthanized by injection of Euthasol, then either fast frozen intact or dissected to preserve livers (fast frozen) and spleens (RNAlater). Samples were stored at ≤ -80˚C until their return to Earth for later analyses.Hardware performed nominally throughout the mission and the planned in-flight science operations were completed successfully. FLT mice appeared generally more physically active on orbit than respective GC groups. After 33 days on the ISS, mean body weights of FLT mice did not differ from GC, with both groups showing a 6% rise compared to time of launch, while VIV mice showed an 8% rise over the same period. Importantly, there were no significant differences in body weights between groups at the end of 33 days on the ISS, providing an indication that the RR hardware supported the health of the mice both on Earth and in space. Based on the preliminary data obtained from the livers and spleens of mice after 17 days on the ISS, purified RNA was of high quality (RIN values of spleen: FLT=9.48 +0.40, GC=9.28 +0.44, n=5/group); therefore, RNA quality from samples retrieved on orbit was acceptable for even the most demanding transcriptomic analyses. In addition, liver enzyme activity levels (units/mg protein) of FLT mice (after 17d on ISS) and all control mice were similar in magnitude to samples that were optimally prepared by freezing in liquid nitrogen in the laboratory (enzymes analyzed included catalase, glutathione reductase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase). Validation analyses still in progress include behavior and tissue biochemistries, as well as optimization of science return by post-flight recovery of tissues for biospecimen sharing and global expression analyses.Together, these preliminary findings demonstrate new capability for supporting long duration rodent research on the ISS to achieve both basic science and biomedical objectives.

Globus, R. K.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Variable Vector Countermeasure Suit (V2Suit) for Space Habitation and Exploration

The Variable Vector Countermeasure Suit (V2Suit) for Space Habitation and Exploration is a visionary system concept that will revolutionize space missions by providing a platform for integrating sensors and actuators with daily astronaut intravehicular activities to improve human health and performance. The V2Suit uses control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) within a miniaturized module placed on body segments to provide a viscous resistance during movements _ a countermeasure to the sensorimotor and musculoskeletal adaptation performance decrements that manifest themselves while living and working in microgravity and during gravitational transitions during long-duration spaceflight, including post-flight recovery and rehabilitation. Through an integrated design, system initialization, and control systems approach the V2Suit is capable of generating this viscous resistance along an arbitrarily specified direction of down. When movements are made, for example, parallel to that down direction a resistance is applied, and when the movement is perpendicular to that direction no resistance is applied. The V2Suit proposes to be a countermeasure to this spaceflight-related adaptation and de-conditioning and the unique sensorimotor characteristics associated with living and working in 0-G, which are critical for future long-duration space missions. This NIAC Phase II project leveraged the study results from Phase I and focused on detailing several aspects of the V2Suit concept, including a wearable CMG architecture, control steering laws, human-system integration evaluations, developing a brassboard prototype unit as a proof-of-concept, as well as evaluating the concept in the context of future space exploration missions. A human mission to Mars, such as that outlined in the Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0, provides a framework for determining the concept of operations and requirements for the V2Suit system. Mars DRA 5.0 includes approximately 180 day 0-G transits to- and from- Mars, as well as a 500 day stay on the surface (~3/8-G) (Figure 3). Accordingly, there are four gravitational transitions associated with this mission: 1-G to 0-G (Earth launch), 0-G to 3/8-G (Mars landing), 3/8-G to 0-G (Mars launch), and 0-G to 1-G (Earth landing). This reference mission provided the basis for developing high-level operational requirements to guide the subsequent study and design of the key V2Suit components.

Duda, Kevin R.↗