Shuttle- Life support, protective systems, and crew system interface technology
Space shuttle life support, protective and crew system interfaces, discussing food and waste management and accident procedures
SEARCH · Search NASA
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Space shuttle life support, protective and crew system interfaces, discussing food and waste management and accident procedures
Aircraft functional systems and crew systems were defined for a 1995 transport aircraft through a process of mission analysis, preliminary design, and evaluation in a soft mockup. This resulted in a revolutionary pilot's desk flight station design featuring an all-electric aircraft, fly-by-wire/light flight and thrust control systems, large electronic color head-down displays, head-up displays, touch panel controls for aircraft functional systems, voice command and response systems, and air traffic control systems projected for the 1990s. The conceptual aircraft, for which crew systems were designed, is a generic twin-engine wide-body, low-wing transport, capable of worldwide operation. The flight control system consists of conventional surfaces (some employed in unique ways) and new surfaces not used on current transports. The design will be incorporated into flight simulation facilities at NASA-Langley, NASA-Ames, and the Lockheed-Georgia Company. When interfaced with advanced air traffic control system models, the facilities will provide full-mission capability for researching issues affecting transport aircraft flight stations and crews of the 1990s.
Some of the human factor issues involved in effectively combining human and automated systems are examined with particular reference to spaceflights. The concepts of the crew system and crew systems dynamics are defined, and the present status of crew systems is summarized. The possibilities and potential problems aasociated with the use of automated systems are discussed, as are unique capabilities and possible errors introduced by human participants. It is emphasized that the true integration of human and automated systems must allow for the characteristics of both.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The Crew System Vidar Data Reduction (CSVIDR) program was written to process selected portions of data acquired from long term tests of space shuttle crew equipment. Data are recorded on a seven track computer compatible tape using the Vidar autodata eight processing system. The input tape is in a six bit binary coded decimal format. The 1110 hardware conversion option is used to convert all data from a BCD format to Fieldata since the majority of the data is output without further conversion. Data is retrieved from a character string, calibrated, tabulated, printed, and output on a fixed sample rate tape for use as input to a general purpose plot program.
ERGO, a human modeling software for ergonomic assessment and task analysis, was used for the crew systems interface analysis of the International Space Station (ISS) Propulsion Module (PM). The objective of analysis was to alleviate passageway size concerns. Three basic passageway configuration concepts: (1) 45" clear passageway without centerline offset (2) 50" clear passageway, 12" centerline offset, (3) 50" clear passageway, no centerline offset, and were reviewed. 95 percentile male and female models which were provided by the software performed crew system analysis from an anthropometric point of view. Four scenarios in which the crew floats in microgravity through a 50" no-offset passageway as they carry a 16" x 20" x 30" avionics box were simulated in the 10-weeks of intensive study. From the results of the analysis, concept (3) was the preferred option. A full scale, three-dimensional virtual model of the ISS Propulsion Module was created to experience the sense of the Intelligent Synthesis Environment and to evaluate the usability and applicability of the software.
This RFI response is targeting Area 5. Crew Systems for Asteroid Exploration: concepts for lightweight and low volume robotic and extra-vehicular activity (EVA) systems, such as space suits, tools, translation aids, stowage containers, and other equipment. The NASA KSC Surface Systems Office, Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations (GMRO) Lab and the Electrostatics & Surface Physics Lab (ESPL) are dedicated to developing technologies for operating in regolith environments on target body surfaces. We have identified two technologies in our current portfolio that are highly relevant and useful for crews that will visit a re-directed asteroid in Cis-Lunar Space. Both technologies are at a high TRL of 5/6 and could be rapidly implemented in time for an ARM mission in this decade.
Space exploration missions will require combining human and technical subsystems into overall "crew systems" capable of performing under the rigorous conditions of outer space. This report describes substantive and conceptual relationships among humans, intelligent machines, and communication systems, and explores how these components may be combined to complement and strengthen one another. We identify key research issues in the combination of humans and technology and examine the role of individual differences, group processes, and environmental conditions. We conclude that a crew system is, in effect, a social cyborg, a living system consisting of multiple individuals whose capabilities are extended by advanced technology.
The behavioral processes in aviation crew system design are theoretically discussed. Interviews with designers concerning actual design experiences were conducted in a structured manner, focusing on the nature of the design problem, the designers's tasks, how decisions governing the human operator's role are made, and how this decision making can be supported. Two taxonomies emerge, one of which summarizes the nature of the design problem and the second of which summarizes the tasks that designers perform toward solving the problem. Combining the taxonomies yields a design problem space that is used to classify existing forms of support. The results of this classification and the implications for needed supports are discussed.
The Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) is operated by NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research as part of its Coral Reef Watch program in response to the deteriorating global state of coral reef and related benthic ecosystems. In addition to sea surface temperatures (SSTs), the two most important parameters used by the CREWS network in generating coral reef bleaching alerts are 1) wind speed and direction and 2) photosynthetically available radiation (PAR). NASA remote sensing products that can enhance CREWS in these areas include SST and PAR products from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and wind data from the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT). CREWS researchers are also interested in chlorophyll, chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), and salinity. Chlorophyll and CDOM are directly available as NASA products, while rainfall (an available NASA product) can be used as a proxy for salinity. Other potential NASA inputs include surface reflectance products from MODIS, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, and Landsat. This report also identifies NASA-supported ocean circulation models and products from future satellite missions that might enchance the CREWS DST.
Space Station program office planning and requirements activity has accelerated during the past year to bring the Space Station Freedom Program (SSF) through the program requirements review phase during 1988. The preliminary design review cycle began in Jan. 89, and is now planned for completion, with formal preliminary design reviews between Apr. and Sept., 1990. This paper briefly describes the PROGRAMMATIC aspects of the engineering and integration management of the SSF crew systems. Emphasis is given to the Crew Health Care System, which includes the Health Maintenance Facility, the Exercise Countermeasure Facility, and the Environmental Health System; all managed within the Man-Systems, one of the twelve 'distributed systems.' Medical and engineering requirements to meet the needs of the mature Space Station operations environment and highlights of critical technologies and equipment in development will be reviewed.
This viewgraph document reviews the background, objectives, methodology, validation, and present status of the Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) Rapid Prototyping Capability (RPC) experiment. The potential NASA contribution to CREWS Decision Support Tool (DST) centers on remotely sensed imagery products.
For any given surface mission duration, there exists a set of surface capabilities necessary to sustain a four-person crew for the length of time the crew is on the surface. Identifying these capabilities is important to mission planners and spacecraft design engineers responsible for lunar surface habitation elements, who need to know which systems and capabilities must be prioritized for the vehicles they are designing. However, simply identifying the surface capabilities does not necessarily equal a viable surface configuration. These capabilities may or may not satisfy stakeholder expectations or even permit completion of mission objectives. Lunar lander cargo mass constraints are a powerful forcing function that requires significant efforts to reduce the mass of all surface elements, including those supporting crew habitation. The required capabilities do increase as a function of mission duration, but it is a nonlinear growth. There are key points in mission duration, beyond which certain additional capabilities are needed. This forms bands of capability between each point. Within a given band, the same functional capabilities are needed, and the only scaling is that associated with daily consumables. The next higher band requires additional capabilities. This paper will focus on those capabilities needed for missions of 30-90 days. It should be noted that there are some uncertainties interpreting NASA requirements that require capabilities after a certain number of days, as typically this refers to number of days in space, not number of days on the lunar surface. Depending on transportation architecture, the number of days between Earth launch and lunar surface landing may vary, therefore impacting when certain required capabilities are implemented. However, activities to prepare humans for missions to Mars and commercial interest in lunar development may drive progressive increases in surface duration. Missions up to 30 days are expected to follow the initial 6.5-day surface missions and there may be commercial interest in extending to even greater durations. This paper will examine the potential case of a 30-90-day surface mission duration with respect to the systems necessary to support crew living and working on the lunar surface.
Building 7 is managed by the Crew and Thermal Systems Division of the JSC Engineering Directorate. Originally named the Life Systems Laboratory, it contained five major test facilities: two advanced environmental control laboratories and three human-rated vacuum chambers (8 , 11 , and the 20 ). These facilities supported flight crew familiarization and the testing and evaluation of hardware used in the early manned spaceflight programs, including Gemini, Apollo, and the ASTP.
NASA Vehicle System Safety Technology (VSST) project management uses systems analysis to identify key issues and maintain a portfolio of research leading to potential solutions to its three identified technical challenges. Statistical data and published safety priority lists from academic, industry and other government agencies were reviewed and analyzed by NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) systems analysis personnel to identify issues and future research needs related to one of VSST's technical challenges, Crew Decision Making (CDM). The data examined in the study were obtained from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Aviation Accident and Incident Data System, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Accident/Incident Data System and the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). In addition, this report contains the results of a review of safety priority lists, information databases and other documented references pertaining to aviation crew systems issues and future research needs. The specific sources examined were: Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) Safety Enhancements Reserved for Future Implementation (SERFIs), Flight Deck Automation Issues (FDAI) and NTSB Most Wanted List and Open Recommendations. Various automation issues taxonomies and priority lists pertaining to human factors, automation and flight design were combined to create a list of automation issues related to CDM.
A case study of knowledge contributions from the crew life support aspect of the manned space program is reported. The new information needed to be learned, the solutions developed, and the relation of new knowledge gained to earthly problems were investigated. Illustrations are given in the following categories: supplying atmosphere for spacecraft; providing carbon dioxide removal and recycling; providing contaminant control and removal; maintaining the body's thermal balance; protecting against the space hazards of decompression, radiation, and meteorites; minimizing fire and blast hazards; providing adequate light and conditions for adequate visual performance; providing mobility and work physiology; and providing adequate habitability.
Life Support and Habitation Systems (LSHS) is one of 10 Foundational Domains as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s proposed Enabling Technology Development and Demonstration (ETDD) Program. LSHS will develop and mature technologies to sustain life on long duration human missions beyond Low Earth Orbit that are reliable, have minimal logistics supply and increase self-sufficiency. For long duration exploration missions, further closure of life support systems is paramount, including focus on key technologies for atmosphere revitalization, water recovery, waste management, thermal control and crew accommodation that recover additional consumable mass, reduce requirements for power, volume, heat rejection, crew involvement, and which have increased reliability and capability. Other areas of focus include technologies for radiation protection, environmental monitoring and fire protection. Beyond LEO, return to Earth will be constrained. The potability of recycled water and purity of regenerated air must be measured and certified aboard the spacecraft. Missions must be able to recover from fire events through early detection, use of non-toxic suppression agents, and operation of recovery systems that protect on-board Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) hardware. Without the protection of the Earth s geomagnetic field, missions beyond LEO must have improved radiation shielding and dosimetry, as well as warning systems to protect the crew against solar particle events. This paper will describe plans for the new LSHS Foundational Domain and mission factors that will shape its technology development portfolio.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.