National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Small Business Innovation Research 2001 Program Solicitation
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B3.01 Advanced Spacecraft Life Support
B3.02 Space Human Factors and Habitability
B3.03 Human Health Maintenance, Adaptation, and Countermeasures
B3.04 Spacecraft/Environmental Monitoring for Crew Health
B3.05 Maintaining Individual and Team Performance
B3.06 Space Medicine and Health Care Systems
B3.07 Food and Galley
B3.08 Biomedical Research and Development of Noninvasive,
Unobtrusive Medical Devices for Future Flight Crews
B3.09 Radiation Shielding to Protect Humans
B3.10 Biomass Production for Planetary Missions
The goal of the Biological and Human Support Research topic is innovations to ensure the health, safety, and performance of humans living and working in space. This includes life support functions such as a healthy air and water supply, food for the crew in future ultra-long duration missions, health maintenance and in-space medical care, radiation shielding for protecting humans in deep space missions, and unique human factors issues of the space environment. BPR seeks to engage the commercial sector in exploiting the economic benefits of biomedical and human support research on Earth. Also sought, in terms of veterinary animal health, are life support functions for animals that may be on the mission for research or other purposes.
B3.01 Advanced Spacecraft Life Support
Lead Center: JSC
Participating Center(s): ARC, JPL, KSC, MSFC
Advanced life support systems are essential to enable human planetary exploration. Future life support systems must provide additional closure of life support systems to further reduce mass and to promote self-sufficiency. Requirements include safe operability in micro-and partial-gravity, high reliability, minimal use of expendables, ease of maintenance, and low system volume, mass, and power. Innovative, efficient, practical concepts are needed in all areas of regenerative processes providing the basic life-support functions of air revitalization, water reclamation, waste management, as well as sensors and controls. Also innovative, cost-effective flight experiment concepts are desired to understand the effect of microgravity and partial-gravity on the operation and performance of advanced life support technologies. In addition to these space exploration related applications, innovative regenerative life support approaches that could have terrestrial application are encouraged. Phase I proof of concept should lead to Phase II hardware development that could be integrated into a life support system test bed. Proposals should include estimates for power, volume, mass, crew time requirements, as well as an analysis of how the concept will impact other systems. Areas in which innovations are solicited include the following:
Air Revitalization. Oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and trace gas contaminant concentration, separation, and control technologies.
Water Reclamation. Efficient, direct treatment of wastewater, consisting of urine, wash water, and condensates, to produce potable and hygiene water.
Waste Management. Present focus is on initial human mission scenarios beyond space station (i.e., limited plant production). Estimated waste generation rates for a 180-day transit and 600-day exploration mission (kg/day for a 6-person crew) include the following: trash (0.56), food packaging (2.02 - 7.91), dry human fecal wastes (0.72), inedible plant biomass (1.69 - 5.45), paper (1.16), tape (0.25), and filters (0.33).
Sensors. Significant improvements in miniaturization, accuracy, operational reliability, real-time multiple measurement functions, in-line operation, self-calibration, reduction of expendables, and low energy consumption for monitoring and control of the life support processes. Sensitive, fast response, on-line analytical sensors to monitor suspended liquid droplets, dispersed gas bubbles and water quality, particularly total organic carbon. Other species of interest include dissolved gases and ions in water reclamation processes, and atmospheric gaseous constituents (oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and trace gas contaminants) in air revitalization processes. Both invasive and non-invasive techniques will be considered.
B3.02 Space Human Factors and Habitability
Lead Center: JSC
Participating Center(s): None
The goal of this subtopic is to develop innovative concepts to improve human-systems interactions and analysis of human-system interfaces, and to develop innovations in crew accommodations, equipment, and computer-based support. The long-term goal is to enable complex, future human space missions of up to 5 years without resupply, and with minimal ground support.
This subtopic seeks technology innovations that will help address the following questions:
Proposals are sought for innovations that improve human-systems interactions and analysis of human-system interfaces, and to develop innovations in crew accommodations, equipment, and computer-based support. Examples of specific needs are:
Human presence in space requires an understanding of the effects of microgravity and other components of the space environment on the physiological systems of the body and on the psychology of the crew. A variety of environmental monitoring and biomedical activities to protect crew health and to counter the effects of space on human physiology is required. Countermeasures must be developed to oppose the deleterious changes that occur in space or upon return to Earth. Health care and medical intervention also must be provided over extended duration missions. As launch costs are extremely sensitive to mass and volume, sensors and instruments must be small and light with an emphasis on multi-functional aspects. Low power consumption is a major consideration, as are design enhancements to improve the operation, design reliability, and maintainability of these instruments in microgravity. As the efficient utilization of time is extremely important, innovative instrumentation setup, ease of usage, improved astronaut (patient) comfort, noninvasive sensors, and easy-to-read information displays are all-important considerations.
Major technology development disciplines include: endocrinology, immunology, hematology, microbiology, muscle physiology, pharmacology, drug delivery systems, and mechanistic changes in neurovestibular, cardiovascular, and pulmonary physiology.
Human Health Monitoring and Countermeasures
Noninvasive Instrumentation
Long-term human space missions require continuous environmental monitoring to protect crew health. Research disciplines include analytical chemistry, environmental microbiology, nutrition, radiation biology, and toxicology. Quantitative assessments require innovative, space flight-compatible approaches for environmental health monitoring. Special instruments are needed to assess the overall acceptability of the environment for human habitation. In addition, instrumentation is needed for measuring thresholds for unacceptable atmospheric contamination levels and for assessing associated risks. Current specific areas of interest include:
B3.05 Maintaining Individual and Team Performance
Lead Center: JSC
Participating Center(s): None
Human physical and cognitive performance capabilities vary over time. Short-term performance deterioration occurs due to fatigue and such phenomena as "vigilance decrements" but, given appropriate conditions (rest, diet, alternative activity), recovery is usually complete. Indeed optimal physical and cognitive loading usually leads to longer-term improvement - learning. "Forgetting" is also a common cause of performance failure and this can be reduced or compensated for by appropriate training, task design and job aids. Inappropriate conditions, such as those that may be found during long duration space flight under hostile environments and the ever-present stress of isolation may give rise to greater and, perhaps permanent, degradation of performance capability.
The challenge to the space human factors community is to create conditions that minimize the occurrence and effects of performance decrement. The first step in the management of individual and team performance is to monitor available predictors of performance capability. The second step is to design environments, tasks, job aids and operational schedules that reduce long-term degradation. The third step is to intervene by introducing training opportunities that complement and supplement the routine demands. The fourth step is to evaluate the effectiveness of the first three steps so that future missions may benefit fully from the experience. These fundamental steps - monitoring, design, training and evaluation - may be supported by modeling and simulation so that factors that are likely to influence performance capability can be investigated under minimal risk conditions.
This SBIR subtopic is aimed at the development of technology that will aid study, modeling and implementation of measures to preserve individual and team performance capability over extended space missions. The following categories and associated examples indicate some specific development projects that the NASA Space Human Factors community believes will help in the design of successful extended space missions.
Monitoring
Minimally invasive and unobtrusive devices and techniques that may be used to
monitor the physiological and psychological states of individuals during
long duration space flights or simulations.
Examples of such devices would include compact electrophysiological monitors that collect and analyze key parameters and indicate appropriate countermeasures - such as diet and exercise regimes. Psychological state monitors would include EEG, sensory-motor performance, attention and other cognitive performance batteries with analysis and personal feedback.
Minimally invasive and unobtrusive devices and techniques that may be used to monitor the behavior and performance of individuals and teams during long duration space flights or simulations.
Examples of such devices would include semi automated human activity / behavior monitors, with embedded analysis, diagnostic and prescription capabilities. Other useful devices would be system-based monitors of individual and team responses to varying system states. Such automated monitoring of individual and team behavior and performance and "psycho-social stability" could provide calibration and trend information regarding readiness to perform. These devices could also be applied to the measurement of productivity and task outcome quality.
Design
Information systems and interfaces that will aid users in their management
of complex operations such as maintenance and research.
Just-in-time system and operation information systems tailored to aid the human user during the conduct of routine and emergency operations and activities. Examples would include effective and efficient job aids such as "intelligent" manuals, checklists, warnings and instructions for the major subsystems (environmental control, docking, food processing, extravehicular activity etc.)
Electronic devices, such as PDAs and web-based systems, that provide flexible interfaces between users and large information systems.
Physical environments and equipment that are conducive to the conduct of individual and group operational, maintenance, exercise and research activities.
Flexible habitat and multi-purpose, modular equipment designs that provide opportunities for variety and allow individuals and groups to work, carry out research, exercise, study, play and relax during long duration missions and simulations. Such habitat designs would also include opportunities to vary spatial, visual, acoustic and thermal environments.
Trouble shooting, maintenance and repair aids and procedures that support crews in dealing with equipment and medical emergencies.
Flexible operational schedule monitors that are aimed at detecting the likelihood of long-term performance capability degradation.
Monitored but flexible computer based physical, training, research, maintenance and recreational schedule monitors, for individuals and teams, aimed at maintaining high levels of physical and cognitive readiness.
Training
Physical training facilities and programs that are aimed at offsetting
the stresses of long duration space flight.
Innovative and flexible exercise equipment and associated regimes and certification processes that address musculo-skeletal, cardiovascular and motor skill capabilities while maintaining high levels of performance feedback and motivation.
Mission oriented training facilities, programs and schedules that are aimed at maintaining high levels of operational readiness.
Baseline and just-in-time training and self-assessment simulation facilities and certification processes that assure competence (skills, knowledge) to deal with research, maintenance and operational demands such as construction, exploration and equipment and medical emergencies.
Evaluation
Development of equipment, methods and databases that may be used to formally
evaluate the utility of intervention strategies aimed at the minimization of
human performance degradation during long duration space explorations or simulations.
"Lessons learned" and "voice of the customer" data capture and analysis facilities and processes that monitor individual and crew actions, effects and self assessments of capability status.
Modeling
Development of physical analogs (simulators) that may be used to study
the effects of long duration missions as well as to prepare individuals and
teams for such missions.
Innovative development and adaptation of facilities and situations that mimic the spatial, environmental (acoustic, visual, gravitational, pressure), task and operational characteristics of long duration space exploration missions that can be used both to investigate human behavior and performance and as training devices.
Development of digital models of human environments, performance and behavior that may be used to simulate those factors that contribute to long-term performance capability maintenance or degradation.
Computer simulations of individual and group behavior and performance that
can be used to explore the conditions conducive to performance degradation.
Such devices would include digital human models and simulations of operational
environments and routine and emergency tasks.
B3.06 Space Medicine and Health Care Systems
Lead Center: JSC
Participating Center(s): None
NASA seeks innovative proposals covering two small areas in Space Medicine and Health Care Systems for future space missions. These areas are: (1) wireless LAN technologies with software-configurable physiological monitoring and (2) portable, collapsible, hyperbaric therapy. The mass and volume of medical equipment and consumables will be extremely constrained in future ultra-long duration missions, such as to the Moon or Mars. Power consumption will also be a consideration, but of a lesser order. Health Care Systems must be operated in medical emergencies by astronauts, who may be non-medical professionals with limited medical training. In a Mars mission, for example, round trip radio communications delays of 6 to 40 minutes makes support from terrestrial physicians an impossibility for time-critical medical emergencies.
Innovative Wireless LAN Technologies With Software-Configurable Physiological Monitoring: Except in infrequent, special medical flight experiments (which collect multiple physiological measurements over a short time) and during EVAs (where ECG is monitored), routine, continuous, medical monitoring of astronauts is currently not done in space. Limited crew time, as well as crew comfort requirements, make the daily application of sensors and electrodes with a multitude of wires very undesirable, so a few hours or days per month may be all that is available for routine monitoring or medical experiments. In nominal activities, the rigorous workload of astronauts requires that physiological monitoring equipment be extremely non-intrusive, yet rugged. In emergencies, crew comfort and patient movement also require a non-intrusive, rugged system. During medical emergencies, a continuous stream of multi-channel physiological data from more than one injured astronaut may need to be collected and processed throughout the crisis.
In ultra-long duration missions to Mars or the Moon, physiological monitoring of astronauts may detect problems and suggest appropriate countermeasures, long before there is serious damage to crew health or greatly decreased crew performance. Additionally, a rapidly deployable, general purpose, individual physiological monitoring system would be a key component of an emergency medical system for serious injuries or illnesses, such as radiation sickness, trauma, or severe injuries from fire or chemical burns, as well as in surgical monitoring.
Whether in routine or emergency monitoring, an individual physiological data acquisition system would be wirelessly linked to computers and clinical laboratory equipment in the spacecraft equipment racks. Attending crew members would interface with computers in the spacecraft racks through RF-linked portable digital assistants (PDAs) to view wireless patient data, and to enter data into the medical record by hand.
Enabling technologies for creating such a system are needed. All physiological input data should be simulated or modeled (no human subjects). Technology innovations are needed in the following areas:
Portable, Collapsible Hyperbaric Therapy for the Human Exploration of Space
Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits, whether used on planetary surfaces or
in the vacuum of space, are essentially one-person, independent spacecrafts.
To preserve mobility and to allow them to be made of thinner and less stiff
fabrics, EVA suits are operated at pressures much lower than 1 atmosphere (14.7
psi). EVA suits in the United States space program operate at slightly above
4 psi. During decompression, Nitrogen gas bubbles can form in body fluids, thereby
damaging tissues and causing the symptoms of Decompression Sickness. To prepare
for an EVA, crewmembers pre-breathe 100 percent oxygen to flush out as much
Nitrogen from the body as possible. This lowers the risk of Decompression Sickness,
which can be treated by use of a hyperbaric chamber, re-breathing 100 percent
oxygen, and considerable medical judgment.
Enabling technologies for creating a space-flight compatible system for hyperbaric therapy are needed. Mass and volume are severely limited in space exploration missions. Reasonable power consumption is also desired. All physiological input data should be simulated or modeled (no human subjects). Innovations are needed in the following areas:
B3.07 Food and Galley
Lead Center: JSC
Participating Center(s): None
As NASA begins to look beyond low Earth orbit and to plan for future exploration missions, such as to the Moon or Mars, new technologies in food science and food processing will be needed. The impossibility of regularly resupplying a Mars crew, for example, means that a complete diet for 6 crewmembers for more than 3 years will have to be carried with them. Because of the mass of refrigeration equipment, freezing a large quantity of food may not be a practical solution. As the crew remains on the lunar or planetary surface, crops will be grown to supplement the crew's diet, especially within the context of experimental advanced life support systems that use plants to revitalize the air and water supply. Hence, methods for processing potential food crops are needed. Areas in which innovations are solicited are:
Ultra-long Duration, Shelf-Stable Food
An initial trip to Mars, for example, will require a stored food system that
is nutritious, palatable and provides a sufficient variety of foods to support
significant crew activities on a mission of at least 3 years duration.
Development of highly acceptable, shelf stable food items that use high quality ingredients is important to maintaining a healthy diet. Food items developed should be an important component of a healthy diet, low in sodium, and should contain less than 35% of calories from fat. Shelf life potential in the 3 - 5 years range is needed. Shelf life extension may be attained through new food preservation methods and/or packaging.
Advanced Packaging
The current food packaging used on Shuttle and the International Space Station
is not biodegradable or recyclable, and thus represents a significant trash
management problem for exploration class missions. Waste packaging in Shuttle
missions is returned to Earth for disposal and packaging waste for International
Space Station is incinerated upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere. New packaging
technology is needed to minimize waste from packaged food. An example might
be a biodegradable package that can withstand the retort process or a plastic
or other packaging material that can readily be recycled to make objects of
value to the space flight mission.
Food Processing Equipment
Advanced life support systems, which use chemical, physical and biological processes,
are being developed to support future human planetary exploration. One such
system might grow crops hydroponically and then process them into edible food
ingredients or table ready products. Equipment to process crops in space should
be highly automated, highly reliable, safe, and should minimize crew time, power,
water, mass, and volume. Equipment for processing raw materials must be suitable
for use in hypo-gravity (e.g., 3/8th-g on Mars) and in hermetically sealed habitats.
Some potential crops for advanced life support systems include wheat, soybeans,
white potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and rice. Examples of space flight
compatible, food processing equipment include:
Human presence in space requires an understanding of the effects of the space environment on the physiological systems of the body. The objective of this subtopic is to sponsor fundamental and applied research leading to the development of noninvasive, unobtrusive medical devices that will mitigate crew health, safety, and performance risks during future flight missions. Medical diagnostic and monitoring devices are critical for providing health care and medical intervention during missions, particularly those of extended duration. Of particular interest are devices with minimized mass, volume, and power consumption, and capable of multiple functions. Design enhancements that improve the operation, design reliability, and maintainability of medical devices in the space environment are also sought. Of additional consideration are innovative instrumentation automation, ease of usage, improved astronaut (patient) comfort, and easy-to-read information displays.
Major research disciplines include: endocrinology, immunology, hematology, microbiology, muscle physiology, pharmacology, drug delivery systems, and mechanistic changes in neurovestibular, cardiovascular, and pulmonary physiology.
Innovations in the following areas are sought:
B3.09 Radiation Shielding to Protect Humans
Lead Center: LaRC
Participating Center(s): JSC
Revolutionary advances in radiation shielding technology are needed to protect humans from the hazards of space radiation during NASA missions. All space radiation environments in which humans may travel in the foreseeable future are considered, including low-Earth orbit, geosynchronous orbit, Moon, Mars, etc. All radiations are considered, including particulate radiation (electrons, protons, neutrons, alpha, light to heavy ions with particular emphasis on ions up to iron, mesons, etc.) and including electromagnetic radiation (ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays, etc.). Technologies of specific interest include but are not limited to the following:
B3.10 Biomass Production for Planetary Missions
Lead Center: KSC
Participating Center(s): JSC
The production of Biomass (in the form of edible food crops) in closed or nearly closed environments is essential for the future of long term planetary exploration and human settlement. These technologies will lead not only to food production but also to the reclamation of water, purification of air, and recovery of inedible plant resources. Areas in which innovations are solicited include the following:
Crop Lighting
Water and nutrient delivery systems
Mechanization and Automation
This system development includes innovations in propagation, seeding, and plant
biomass processing. Plant biomass processing includes harvesting, separation
of inedibles from edibles, cleaning and storage of edibles (seed, vegetable,
and tubers) and removal of inedibles for resource recovery processing.
Facility or System Sanitation
This includes technologies to prevent excessive build-up of microorganisms within
nutrient delivery systems.
Health Measurement
Remote, direct and indirect methods of measuring plant health and development
using canopy (leaf) spectral signatures or fluorescence to quantify parameters
such as rate of photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration, and nutrient uptake.
Data acquisition should be noninvasive or remotely sensed using spectral, spatial,
and image analysis. System modeling and decision-making algorithms may be included.
Sensor Technologies
Innovations are required for development of sensors using miniature, subminiature
and microtechnologies for evaluation of all phases of biomass production. Such
sensor arrays include wide ranging applications of gas and liquid sensors as
well as photo sensors and microbiological community indicators. Innovations
are required in all phases of sensor development including biomass fouling,
miniaturization, wireless transmission, multiple phase and multiple tasking
sensors and interface with AI data collection systems.
Flight Equipment Support
Innovative hardware and components developed to support research in the Space
Shuttle and onboard the International Space Station. Biomass production investigations
using flight support equipment will be required to meet the demanding requirements
for space flight operations, meet the rigorous scientific data collection standards,
and produce plants in a controlled environment for research purposes and food.
Innovations in whole package design and in component designs will be required.
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