TOPIC B3 Biomedical and Human Support Research

• Separation of carbon dioxide from a mixture primarily of nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapor to maintain carbon dioxide concentrations below 0.3% by volume.
  
• The recovery of oxygen from carbon dioxide with some focus on an approach to deal with the by-products of the process, if any, keeping in mind the above mass, power, and expendables goals.
  
• Removal of trace contaminant gases from cabin air and/or a gas product stream from another system (e.g., water reclamation, waste management, etc.) using advanced regenerable sorbent materials, improved oxidation techniques, or other methods.
  
• Alternate methods of storage and delivery of atmospheric gases to reduce mass and volume and improve safety. [Compare to 4300 psia tank storage with a weight penalty of 0.56 lb of tank weight per lb of nitrogen gas stored.]
  
• Novel approaches to integrating atmosphere revitalization processes to achieve energy and logistics mass reductions.
  
• Alternate methods of atmospheric humidity control that do not use liquid-to-air heat exchanger technology (dependent on the spacecraft active thermal control system) or mechanical refrigeration technology. [Design metabolic latent load is 2.277 kg of water vapor per person per day].
  

• Liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers that provide two physical barriers preventing interpath leakage.
  
• Advanced technologies to control cabin temperature and humidity in microgravity. Condensate that is collected must be able to be recovered and transported to the water recovery system.
  
• Technologies to inhibit microbial growth on wetted surfaces. Applications include condensate collection surfaces for humidity control and heat exchangers resident in water loops.
  
• Lightweight, versatile and efficient heat acquisition devices including flexible cold plates. Devices would provide cooling to electronics, motors, and other types of heat producing equipment that is internal to the cabin.
  
• Lightweight, controllable evaporative heat rejection devices that can operate in environments ranging from space, Mars’ atmosphere, and Earth’s atmosphere.
  
• Alternative heat transfer fluids that are non-toxic, non-flammable, and have a low freezing temperature.
  
• Energy storage devices that maintain the integrity of food or science samples. Temperatures of -20°C, -40°C, -80°C or -180°C are desired.
  
• Highly accurate, remotely monitored, in situ, non-intrusive thermal instrumentation.
  
• Advanced analytical tools for thermal and fluid systems design and analyses, which are amenable to concurrent engineering processes.
  

• Monitoring and maintaining human performance nonintrusively. Specifically, minimally invasive and unobtrusive devices and techniques to monitor the behavior and performance (physical, cognitive, perceptual, etc.) of individuals and teams during long-duration space flights or analog missions. Technologies to track locations of individuals within habitats, and report on physiological or other state information. Methods and models for human performance prediction, including physical performance, as affected by encumbrances of clothing, space suits, etc.
  
• Predictive modeling of effects on the crew due to potential spacecraft environments and operational procedures. Develop computational models of the crew environment and of human performance and behavior to simulate the effects of factors that contribute to (or degrade) long-term performance capabilities. Such models of the environment, individual, and group behaviors and performance can be used to simulate and explore the conditions that influence human performance (e.g., fatigue, noise, CO₂, microgravity, group dynamics, etc.). Such capabilities would include digital models of human operators and routine and emergency tasks that interact in the context of the long-duration human exploration environment.
  
• Tools to aid in design and evaluation of human-system interfaces for speed, accuracy, and acceptability in a cost-effective and reliable manner: Automated analysis of computer-user interfaces for complex display systems to conduct objective review of displays and controls, and to determine compliance with guidelines and standards. Quantitative measures of the effectiveness of user interfaces to be used for task-sensitive evaluations.
  
• Tools that facilitate the user interface design for human computer interfaces, and for facilitators, such as procedures, labels, and instructions. Tools should assist the designer in incorporating contextual information such as the user’s task, the user’s knowledge, and the system limitations.
  
• Tools to build just-in-time system and operational information software to aid human users conducting routine and emergency operations and activities. Such tools might include effective and efficient job aids (e.g., "intelligent" manuals, checklists, warnings) and support for designing flexible interfaces between users and large information systems. Methods for development of ‘facilitators’ (procedures, labels, etc.) adapted for the development of space vehicle and payload applications.
  
• Rapid don/doff launch-and-entry and survival suit: a personal ambient environment and individual health and safety protective garment system with antigravity protection, metabolic-cooling and heating, breathing air, thermal protection, zero-atmospheric pressure protection, land and water survival gear, etc. An integrated suit (providing all desired protective functions), as well as a modular suit (allowing user to select ahead of time any of the array of required protection and survival subsystems) approach should be considered. The emphasis for this innovation should be to achieve the desired levels of protection for space travel, as well as for survival on Earth after landing at an unplanned site–all while affording rapid donning in microgravity through one-gravity (1g) environments on the order of 60 s and rapid doffing on the order of 300 s or less. Include accommodation for using the suit for ill, injured, or incapacitated crewmembers, meeting the don/doff goals while providing access for medical monitoring and ongoing treatment.
  

• Biomedical monitoring, sensing, and analysis (including the acquisition, processing, communication, and display) of electrical, physical, or chemical aspects of a human's health or physiological state.
  
• Instrumentation to be used for in-flight and ground-based studies for reliable and accurate noninvasive monitoring of human physiological functions such as the musculoskeletal, neurological, gastrointestinal, and hematological systems.
  
• Noninvasive biosensors for real-time monitoring of blood and urine chemistry including gases, calcium ions, electrolytes, proteins, lipids, and hormones.
  
• In-flight specimen analysis to evaluate physiological, metabolic, and pharmacological responses of astronauts.
  
• Instrumentation to provide quantitative data to establish the effectiveness of an exercise regimen in ground-based research, and to measure bone strain in the hip, heel, and lumbar spine during exercise.
  
• Assessment of gas bubble formation or growth in the body after in-flight or ground-based decompression, and to prevent or minimize associated decompression sickness.
  
• In-flight assessment of the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, and minerals.
  
• Smart sensors capable of sensor data processing and sensor reconfiguration.
  
• Small, portable, medical imaging diagnostic instrumentation.
  

• Physicochemical methods for primary treatment to reduce the total organic carbon concentration of the wastewater from 1000 mg/L to less than 50 mg/L and/or the total dissolved solids from 1000 mg/L to less than 100 mg/L.
  
• Post-treatment methods to reduce total organic carbon from 100 mg/L to less than 0.25 mg/L in the presence of 50 mg/L bicarbonate ions, 25 mg/L ammonium ions and 25 ppm other inorganic ions.
  
• Methods for the phase separation of solids, gases, and liquids in a microgravity environment that are insensitive to fouling mechanisms.
  
• Methods for the treatment of brine solutions including water recovery.
  
• Methods to eliminate or manage solids precipitation in wastewater lines.
  
• Disinfection technologies, both for potable water storage and point-of-use. Development of residual disinfectants that can be consumed by crewpersons. Techniques to minimize or eliminate biofilm or microbial contamination from potable water systems and water treatment systems, including fluid handling components such as pipes, tanks, flow meters, check valves, regulators, etc.
  

• Microgravity- and hypogravity-compatible solid waste management technologies;
  
• Volume reduction of wet and dry solid wastes;
  
• Small and compact fecal treatment and/or collection system;
  
• Water recovery from wet wastes (including human fecal wastes, food packaging, brines, etc.);
  
• Stabilization, sterilization, and/or microbial control technologies to minimize or eliminate biological hazards associated with waste;
  
• Storage devices needed for the containment of solid waste that incorporates an odor abatement technology.
  
• Microgravity-compatible technologies for the jettison of solid wastes in space; and
  
• Other novel waste management technologies for storage, transport, processing, resource recovery, and disposal that satisfy a critical need for the referenced missions (e.g., recovery of critical resources).
  

• Sources for plant lighting such as, but not limited to, light emitting diodes, high-efficiency lamps or solar collectors suitable for orbital space, interplanetary space, lunar or Martian surface;
  
• Transmission and distribution systems for plant lighting including, but not limited to, luminaries, light pipes, fiber optics, and optical filters; and
  
• Heat removal techniques for the plant growth lighting such as, but not limited to, water-jackets, water barriers, and wavelength-specific filters and reflectors.
  

• Technologies for production of crops using hydroponics or solid substrates suitable for orbital space, interplanetary space, lunar or Martian surface;
  
• Water and nutrient delivery systems;
  
• Regenerable media for seed germination plant support; and
  
• Separation and recovery of usable minerals from wastewater and solid waste products for use as a source of mineral nutrients for plant growth.
  

• Advanced computer codes are needed to model and predict the transport of radiation through materials.
  
• Advanced computer codes are needed to model and predict the effects of radiation on the physiological performance, health, and well-being of humans in space radiation environments.
  
• Innovative lightweight radiation shielding materials are needed to shield humans in aerospace transportation vehicles, large space structures such as space stations, orbiters, landers, rovers, habitats, space suits, etc. The materials emphasis should be on non-parasitic radiation shielding materials, or multifunctional materials, where one of the functions is radiation shielding.
  
• Non-materials and "out-of-the-box" radiation shielding technologies are also of interest.
  
• Laboratory and space flight data are needed to validate the accuracy of radiation transport codes.
  
• Laboratory and space flight data are needed to validate the effectiveness of radiation-shielding materials and non-materials solutions.
  
• Comprehensive radiation-shielding databases and design tools are also sought to enable designers to incorporate and optimize radiation shielding into space systems during the initial design phases.
  
• Accurate and reliable theoretical and phenomenological models are needed for the collision of radiation ions to generate the input database for transport phenomena. The models that give comprehensive results in a fast manner for broader (preferably whole) ranges of colliding ions, for ion energies from a few mega-electron volts to a few giga-electron volts are desirable. The information needed is as follows:
  
  • Total, elastic, absorption, and fragmentation cross sections
    
  • Spectral and angular distributions of producing particles
    
  • Multiparticle fragmentations
    
  • Cluster effects
    
  • Meson production
    

• For water monitoring, sensitive, fast response, online 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, and polar organic compounds such as methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, butanol, and acetone in water reclamation processes; and particulate matter, major constituents (such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor) and trace gas contaminants (such as ammonia, formaldehyde, ethylene) in air revitalization processes. Both invasive and noninvasive techniques will be considered.
  
• Monitoring of microbial species, especially pathogens, primarily in water, is important. Enabling technologies may include proper sample preparation and handling, with minimal operator effort and minimal or no reagent usage.
  
• Significant mass savings and ease of use may be enabled by approaches that detect more than one species at a time. Proposals that seek to develop new technologies or combine existing technologies to simultaneously monitor several major constituents and/or trace constituents are of interest.
  

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