Space Station freedom the next step in
our continuing effort to explore beyond
Earth's boundaries as we establish a
permanent presence in space new medical
challenges will have to be met with
longer missions larger crews and the
complexities of a medical rescue the
health of freedoms international crew
will be essential for the success of
this program
the crew health care system or checks is
currently being designed and developed
primarily at NASA's Johnson Space Center
distributed throughout the space station
this system will provide the total
spectrum of crew health care with three
distinct but interconnected components
the exercise countermeasures facility
the environmental health system and the
health maintenance facility
air and water two of the most important
elements for human survival on earth as
well as in space Space Station freedom
will provide crew members with the
opportunity to live and work in space
for extended periods of time but how
will we ensure the quality of the
environment there how will air and water
be kept clean for human consumption now
and 30 years from now these are some of
the questions that the environmental
health system or EHS is seeking to
answer here to explain more on EHS is
dane russo PhD project manager of the
environmental health system a unique and
versatile concept the Space Station
freedom will determine what we do in
space and how we do it its diversity is
reflected in its design which includes
pressurized living quarters and
laboratories maintenance of a safe and
habitable environment will be a
significant challenge space stations air
and water will be recycled in a
closed-loop environmental control system
and such a system all of the elements of
the internal environment are linked
together EHS scientists and engineers
are working together to develop new
techniques for monitoring contaminants
and the internal environment thus
working together to help make the space
station freedom a safe place to live and
work
the laboratory module will provide the
space station with facilities for life
sciences and materials processing
research development and testing these
types of operations while important for
the commercial and scientific success of
the station carry with them the inherent
risk of contamination of the space
stations internal environment a chemical
spill or leak or even the common flu
guards could present a potential hazard
for space station crew members
appropriate crew and ground response
will require the capability to monitor
detect and identify space station
internal contaminants one area of
concern is water quality on shuttle
flights water systems are serviced after
every flight the goal for freedom is to
minimize resupply needs through water
recycling
Limited earth-based experience with lot
of reclamation means that new water
quality standards will have to be
established for freedom the EHS water
quality subsystem will set these
standards and provide instrumentation
for monitoring the quality of freedoms
water an experiment being examined is
the efficiency of iodine for controlling
biofilm formation biofilm is a
combination of microorganisms and their
extracellular products that can build up
on the inside of water systems and
decrease the effectiveness of
disinfectants in this experiment
untreated and iodine ated water is
recirculated with samples taken for
analysis of biofilm accumulation
preliminary results have shown that
iodine disinfects the water effectively
and significantly retards biofilm growth
microbiology is another EHS subsystem
many factors including in flight crew
exchanges and long tours of crew duty
increase the possible risk of infectious
disease and contribute to the need for
onboard microbial analysis methods to
identify microbial contaminants must be
developed which are compatible with
freedom size and weight constraints one
instrument the vitek automated
microbiology system has been
miniaturized for use on the space
station the vitek system utilizes the
same technology used in many hospitals
for the purpose of identifying bacteria
and determining appropriate medical
treatment it can help determine the
cause of an infectious disease or
identify a microorganism involved in
environmental contamination by matching
patterns of known my
for organisms against those produced by
the specimen the EHS toxicology
subsystem is developing a suite of
instrumentation for the detection of
chemical and particulate contamination
in the atmosphere of Space Station
freedom the goal of this subsystem is to
make these units operate independently
and notify the crew only if there is a
problem these instruments will monitor
the air for possible contaminants giving
general analysis immediately and
in-depth information within an hour
research in the field of radiation is
another area of study under EHS a group
of instruments including the current
firma luminescent dosimeter zeeeee or
tlds will be used to assess the
biological impact of radiation until
recently the technology used the tlds
measured only the average dosage
acquired during flight a new EHS
instrument the charged particle
directional spectrometer consists of
sensors that electronically register the
quality or type of radiation as it
occurs charged particles enter the
spectrometer depending on the level of
penetration through the sensors
scientists can determine the mass charge
and velocity of the particle this
understanding will provide the necessary
groundwork for future long-duration
missions as we continue our exploration
of the solar system it's because of
NASA's concern about maintaining a safe
crew environment that we have begun
development of the space station
Environmental Health System the EHS will
provide the program with two essential
products a suite of flight hardware for
monitoring the space station's internal
and
Arment and a network of ground support
personnel to assist with environmental
planning and to help make environmental
health assessments once the station
becomes operational as an integral part
of the crew health care system EHS the
environmental health system will provide
essential technology for maintaining a
healthy environment on Space Station
freedom
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