ALBERT

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Description: BACKGROUND: Astronaut spacewalk training can result in a variety of symptom complaints and possible injuries. This study quantified and characterized signs, symptoms, and injuries resulting from extravehicular activity spacesuit training at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, immersion facility. METHODS: We identified the frequency and incidence of symptoms by location, mechanisms of injury, and effective countermeasures. Recommendations were made to improve injury prevention, astronaut training, test preparation, and training hardware. At the end of each test, a questionnaire was completed documenting signs and symptoms, mechanisms of injury, and countermeasures. RESULTS: Of the 770 tests, there were 190 in which suit symptoms were reported (24.6%). There were a total of 352 reported suit symptom comments. Of those symptoms, 166 were in the hands (47.16%), 73 were in the shoulders (20.7%), and 40 were in the feet (11.4%). Others ranged from 6.0% to 0.28%, respectively, from the legs, arms, neck, trunk, groin, and head. Causal mechanisms for the hands included moisture and hard glove contacts resulting in fingernail injuries; in the shoulders, hard contact with suit components and strain mechanisms; and in the feet, hard boot contact. The severity of symptoms was highest in the shoulders, hands, and feet. CONCLUSIONS: Most signs and symptoms were mild, self-limited, of brief duration, and were well controlled by available countermeasures. Some represented the potential for significant injury with consequences affecting astronaut health and performance. Correction of extravehicular activity training-related injuries requires a multidisciplinary approach to improve prevention, medical intervention, astronaut training, test planning, and suit engineering.

Description: Operation of aerobic biological reactors in space is controlled by a number of challenging constraints, mainly stemming from mass transfer limitations and phase separation. Immobilized-cell packed-bed bioreactors, specially designed to function in the absence of gravity, offer a viable solution for the treatment of gray water generated in space stations and spacecrafts. A novel gravity-independent wastewater biological processor, capable of carbon oxidation and nitrification of high-strength aqueous waste streams, is presented. The system, consisting of a fully saturated pressurized packed bed and a membrane oxygenation module attached to an external recirculation loop, operated continuously for over one year. The system attained high carbon oxidation efficiencies often exceeding 90% and ammonia oxidation reaching approximately 60%. The oxygen supply module relies on hydrophobic, nonporous, oxygen selective membranes, in a shell and tube configuration, for transferring oxygen to the packed bed, while keeping the gaseous and liquid phases separated. This reactor configuration and operating mode render the system gravity-independent and suitable for space applications.

Description: This paper describes a technique for viewing and interacting with 2-D medical data in three dimensions. The approach requires little pre-processing, runs on personal computers, and has a wide range of application. Implementation details are discussed, examples are presented, and results are summarized.

Description: In this paper, we will present a new methodology that measures the "worth" of deploying an additional testing instrument (sensor) in terms of the amount of information that can be retrieved from such measurement. This quantity is obtained using a probabilistic model of RLV's that has been partially developed in the NASA Ames Research Center. A number of correlated attributes are identified and used to obtain the worth of deploying a sensor in a given test point from an information-theoretic viewpoint. Once the information-theoretic worth of sensors is formulated and incorporated into our general model for IHM performance, the problem can be formulated as a constrained optimization problem where reliability and operational safety of the system as a whole is considered. Although this research is conducted specifically for RLV's, the proposed methodology in its generic form can be easily extended to other domains of systems health monitoring.

Description: A spacecraft's Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) system enables and maintains a habitable and sustaining environment for its crew. A typical ECLS system provides for atmosphere consumables and revitalization, environmental monitoring, pressure, temperature and humidity control, heat rejection (including equipment cooling), food and water supply and management, waste management, and fire detection and suppression. The following is a summary of ECLS systems used in United States (US) and Russian human spacecraft.

Description: This chapter discusses potential technologies for achieving artificial gravity in a space vehicle. We begin with a series of definitions and a general description of the rotational dynamics behind the forces ultimately exerted on the human body during centrifugation, such as gravity level, gravity gradient, and Coriolis force. Human factors considerations and comfort limits associated with a rotating environment are then discussed. Finally, engineering options for designing space vehicles with artificial gravity are presented.

Description: Optimal cognition during complex and sustained operations is a critical component for success in current and future military operations. "Cognitive Performance, Judgment, and Decision-making" (CPJD) is a newly organized U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command research program focused on sustaining operational effectiveness of Future Force Warriors by developing paradigms through which militarily-relevant, higher-order cognitive performance, judgment, and decision-making can be assessed and sustained in individuals, small teams, and leaders of network-centric fighting units. CPJD evaluates the impact of stressors intrinsic to military operational environments (e.g., sleep deprivation, workload, fatigue, temperature extremes, altitude, environmental/physiological disruption) on military performance, evaluates noninvasive automated methods for monitoring and predicting cognitive performance, and investigates pharmaceutical strategies (e.g., stimulant countermeasures, hypnotics) to mitigate performance decrements. This manuscript describes the CPJD program, discusses the metrics utilized to relate militarily applied research findings to academic research, and discusses how the simulated combat capabilities of a synthetic battle laboratory may facilitate future cognitive performance research.

Description: Human motion tracking systems represent a crucial technology in the area of modeling and simulation. These systems, which allow engineers to capture human motion for study or replication in virtual environments, have broad applications in several research disciplines including human engineering, robotics, and psychology. These systems are based on several sensing paradigms, including electro-magnetic, infrared, and visual recognition. Each of these paradigms requires specialized environments and hardware configurations to optimize performance of the human motion tracking system. Ideally, these systems are used in a laboratory or other facility that was designed to accommodate the particular sensing technology. For example, electromagnetic systems are highly vulnerable to interference from metallic objects, and should be used in a specialized lab free of metal components.

Description: In January 2004, NASA established a new, long-term exploration program to fulfill the President's Vision for U.S. Space Exploration. The primary goal of this program is to establish a sustained human presence in space, beginning with robotic missions to the Moon in 2008, followed by extended human expeditions to the Moon as early as 2015. In addition, the program places significant emphasis on the development of joint human-robot systems. A key difference from previous exploration efforts is that future space exploration activities must be sustainable over the long-term. Experience with the space station has shown that cost pressures will keep astronaut teams small. Consequently, care must be taken to extend the effectiveness of these astronauts well beyond their individual human capacity. Thus, in order to reduce human workload, costs, and fatigue-driven error and risk, intelligent robots will have to be an integral part of mission design.