Browsing by Author "Broyan, James"
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Item A Guide for Evaluating Spacecraft Environmental Control & Life Support Systems (ECLSS) Technology Developments(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Cowan, Darnell; Abney, Morgan; Broyan, James; Perry, Jay; Delzeit, Lance; Meyer, Marit; Melendez, Orlando; Williams, DavidEnvironmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) are the core of any human spacecraft or habitat and are key to the astronaut's survival during missions. NASA continues to invest in the development of ECLSS technology that more efficiently recycle air, water, and waste. These advancements are needed to enable longer duration Artemis missions to the Moon or Mars and reduce dependency on Earth. Objectively evaluating the content of a technical portfolio is critical to identifying and advancing the most technically relevant and/or promising technology solutions, particularly in limited resource scenarios. Here we define four types of technical portfolio evaluations: 1) Technology Down-Selects where one or more technologies are selected over others within the same trade space (for development or flight), 2) Technology Continuation Reviews where a technology's relevance and development progress is weighed against stand-alone metrics and the risks of continued development, 3) Technology Flight Necessity Assessments to determine whether a flight demonstration is required to meet critical performance goals, and 4) Flight Demonstration Readiness Assessments to determine whether the technology is technically ready to be considered for flight demonstration. Historically, the processes used to evaluate technologies within the ECLSS portfolio have varied from project to project. Therefore, an assessment was performed to improve consistency and transparency of ECLSS technology evaluation processes within NASA. This involved evaluating the processes employed on historical NASA projects, and those used in industry and other government agencies to identify the most relevant and useful aspects of each. The product is a guide to quantitatively and objectively evaluate ECLSS technology developments, and case studies were performed using the new guide on previously completed technology development projects. The outcomes were compared, and findings are reported in this paper along with a discussion of how this new guide will be applied for future NASA ECLSS technology projects.Item Comparing Trash Disposal to Use as Radiation Shielding for a Mars Transit Vehicle(47th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2017-07-16) Ewert, Michael; Broyan, James; Semones, Edward; Goodliff, Kandyce; Chai, Patrick; Singleterry, Robert; Abston, Lee; Clowdsley, Martha; Wittkopp, Charles; Vitullo, NicholasA round trip to Mars will require lots of supplies and will generate lots of trash. Mission studies and technology development are underway for this and other human space exploration missions, and what to do with the trash is more than a casual question. Supplies regularly come to the International Space Station in a variety of visiting vehicles, and trash leaves in the same way. Separate disposable logistics module(s) could also be used with a Mars transit vehicle, but there may be better options. The benefits of using logistics items such as food and other supplies have been recognized for solar radiation event shielding. To maintain this benefit throughout the mission, used logistics that become trash must also be used for shielding. This paper explores the competing benefits of trash disposal during the journey versus keeping the trash on board to maintain radiation shielding for the crew. Periodic disposal options include bulk jettison via an airlock and gas venting after a trash-to-gas process. If the trash is kept on board, it could simply be stored with considerations for control of odor and gas production. Alternatively, trash could be processed with heat melt compactor technology to create radiation shielding tiles from all eligible waste material. In addition to listing qualitative benefits for various options, such as reduced smell or littering, quantitative mission benefits are calculated. Disposal of trash prior to key points in the mission such as Mars orbit insertion and trans-Earth injection can save significant propellant. Alternatively, use of trash as radiation shielding could reduce the need to launch dedicated shielding materials and allow recovery of additional resources such as water. All options explored, except for storage of raw trash in the vehicle, also free up habitable volume.Item Development Status of Logistics Reduction Technologies for Exploration Missions(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Broyan, James; Ewert, Michael; McKinley, Melissa; Fink, Patrick; Badger, Julia; Lee, JeffreyTechnologies that reduce logistical mass, volume, and the crew time dedicated to logistics management are important for both lunar focused Artemis missions and future Mars transit missions. NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems’ Logistics Reduction project is developing technologies that can benefit a wide range of exploration missions. Logistics reduction technologies include improvements to compact toilets for efficient waste collection and trash compaction with stabilization which will maintain hygienic habitable volumes as consumables are converted to waste products. Gateway and Artemis missions will both consist of periodic crewed periods separated by substantial periods of dormancy. Assembly of a Mars transit vehicle also consist of periodic crewed and longer uncrewed mission phases. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) autonomous tracking and localization will relieve the crew of inventory management duties, especially important during the time critical crew periods, and ensure the correct items are transferred between visiting elements, especially those destined for disposal. Inventory tracking combined with the ability to robotically manipulate cargo enables beneficial scenarios of configuring exploration habitats before the crew arrives, or after they depart, thereby allowing increased focus on science and other mission objectives. Robotic cargo manipulation is also extensible to wider habitat maintenance applications. This paper provides a status of the technologies being developed, maps them to exploration mission technology gaps and enhancements, and explains where they will be validated.Item Exploration Mission Benefits From Logistics Reduction Technologies(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Broyan, James; Schlesinger, Thilini; Ewert, MichaelTechnologies that reduce logistical mass, volume, and the crew time dedicated to logistics management become more important as exploration missions extend farther from the Earth. Even a modest reduction in logical mass can have a significant impact because it also reduces the packing burden. NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems’ Logistics Reduction Project is developing technologies that can directly reduce the mass and volume of crew clothing and metabolic waste collection. Also, NASA has developed cargo bags that can be reconfigured for crew outfitting. Trash processing technologies that will increase habitable volume and improve protection against solar storm events are under development. Additionally, Mars-class missions are sufficiently distant that even logistics management without resupply can be problematic due to the communication time delay with Earth. Although exploration vehicles are launched with all consumables and logistics in a defined configuration, the configuration continually changes as the mission progresses. Traditionally, significant ground and crew time has been required to understand the evolving configuration and locate misplaced items. The crew will not be able to rely on the ground for logistics localization assistance for key mission events and unplanned contingencies. NASA has been developing a radio frequency identification autonomous logistics management system to reduce crew time for general inventory and enable greater crew self-response to unplanned events when a wide range of items may need to be located in a very short time period. This paper provides a status of the technologies being developed and their benefits for exploration missions.Item Exploration Toilet Integration Challenges on the International Space Station(49th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2019-07-07) Borrego, Melissa; Zaruba, Yadira; Broyan, James; McKinley, Melissa; Baccus, ShelleyOn the International Space Station (ISS) there are currently two toilets. One is located in the Russian’s Service Module and the other is located in the U.S. segment’s Node 3. A new Exploration Toilet will be integrated next to the existing Node 3 Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC). The Toilet will be evaluated as a technology demonstration for a minimum of three years. In addition, it will support an increase in ISS crew size due to Commercial Crew flights to ISS. The Toilet is designed to minimize mass and volume for Orion, the first Exploration vehicle. Currently ISS does not have a designated volume for an additional Toilet. Furthermore, operating the Toilet on ISS presents a different set of challenges as it must integrate into existing vehicle systems for urine processing. To integrate the Toilet on ISS, a suite of hardware was developed to provide mechanical, electrical, data, and fluid interfaces. This paper will provide an overview of the Toilet Integration Hardware design as well as the engineering challenges, crew interface provisions and vehicle integration complexities encountered during the concept and design phases.Item Generation 2 Heat Melt Compactor Development(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Turner, Mark F.; Fisher, John W.; Broyan, James; Pace, GregoryNASA has been developing a waste management device for human space exploration missions called the Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) as part of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Human Spaceflight Logistics Reduction and Repurposing (LRR) project. Human space missions typically generate trash with a quantity of plastic that is twenty percent or greater by mass. The plastic rich trash contains valuable water entrained in food residue and sanitary wipes blended with paper, duct tape, rubber gloves, and other sundry trash items. The Heat Melt Compactor was designed to provide high trash volume reduction, microbial stabilization, and resource recovery including water and potentially radiation shielding material from the trash. The Heat Melt Compactor dries, compresses, and encapsulates the waste inside the plastic producing a tile that has the consistency of hard plastic. This paper provides an overview of the engineering efforts associated with development of a second generation HMC. The Gen 2 HMC is a ground based prototype unit that has been designed to function within the physical and environmental constraints of an International Space Station (ISS) Express Rack and serves as a precursor to developing proto-flight hardware.Item NASA Centennial Challenges Deep Space Food Challenge Competition to Incentive Innovation in Food Systems for Long-Duration Space Exploration Missions(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Roman, Monsi; Herblet, Angela; Broyan, James; Douglas, Grace; Turner, DawnThe Centennial Challenges (CC) program, currently part of NASA�s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), is one of the vehicles NASA uses to develop and execute public prize competitions. Since opening its first challenge in 2005, the CC program has initiated more than 20 challenges in a variety of technology areas. This paper provides the background, development and execution of the Deep Space Food Challenge as one approach to fulfilling NASA�s Space Policy Directive 1 (�To the Moon, then Mars�). Specifics about the CC program�s accomplishments will also be discussed. The Deep Space Food Challenge (DSF) was developed in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to create novel food production technologies with minimal inputs, maximum safe, nutritious, palatable food outputs for long-duration space missions, which have potential to benefit people on Earth. When humans return to the lunar surface in the mid-2020s, the early missions will use prepackaged foods similar to those in use on the International Space Station (ISS) today. However, extending the duration of lunar missions requires reducing resupply dependency on Earth. Testing a sustainable system on the Moon that meets lunar crews� needs is a fundamental step for lunar sustainability and future Mars exploration. NASA and CSA are focused on how to furnish crew members with a viable food system for long duration space missions that provides all daily nutritional needs through a variety of palatable, safe food with limited resource requirements and no dependency on resupply from Earth; and enables acceptable, safe and quick preparation methods. On Earth, technology solutions for food systems could also be used to produce nutritional sources for urban and rural environments; potentially leading to a reduced impact on our Earth�s resources. Challenges, such as the DSF, are an embodiment of NASA�s continuing commitment to technological advancement and innovation through non-traditional programs.Item NASA Crew Health & Performance Capability Development for Exploration: 2021 to 2022 Overview(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Abercromby, Andrew; Douglas, Grace; Kalogera, Kent; Somers, Jeffrey; Suresh, Rahul; Thompson, Moriah; Wood, Scott; Hwang, Emma; Parton, Kyle; Broyan, JamesRadiation, reduced gravity, distance from earth, isolation and confinement, and habitation within artificially created and controlled life support environments are hazards that present risk to human space explorers. In many cases, research is required to characterize those risks and help identify risk mitigation strategies. Where new capabilities are necessary to maintain crew health and performance (CHP) during exploration missions, a multi-step process is followed: 1) a Capability Gap is defined; 2) a plan or �roadmap� to develop that capability is established based on agency priorities and anticipated mission development timelines; and 3) work defined on the roadmap is then initiated as resources allow, with the objective that the capability will be available in time to support the future mission. Over the past year, significant progress has occurred in CHP technology development, ground testbed development, ground-based testing, and in preparations for ISS technology demonstrations. This paper provides a development update in the following capability areas: crew health countermeasures, EVA physiology and performance, food and nutrition, exploration medical capabilities, and radiation. Project overviews will include descriptions of CHP development activities over the past year, the human system risks and capability gaps being targeted, as well as planned follow-on activities and anticipated program infusion points.Item NASA Crew Health & Performance Capability Development for Exploration: 2022 to 2023 Overview(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Abercromby, Andrew; Douglas, Grace; Kalogera, Kent; Marshall-Goebel, Karina; Somers, Jeffrey; Suresh, Rahul; Thompson, Moriah; Wood, Scott; Fritsche, Ralph; Hwang, Emma; Yang, Justin; Broyan, JamesRadiation, reduced gravity, distance from earth, isolation and confinement, and habitation within artificially created and controlled life support environments are hazards that present risk to human space explorers. These hazards necessitate development of new technologies to protect crew health and performance during future long-duration missions to the moon and Mars. NASA’s System Capability Leads coordinate with agency experts, programs, and exploration architecture teams to identify and prioritize technology investments in support of future missions. This paper describes progress over the past year in CHP technology development, ground testbed development, ground-based testing, parabolic flight testing, and on-orbit technology demonstrations. Technology maturation progress and future plans are described in the following capability areas: crew health countermeasures; spacesuit physiology and performance; food and nutrition; radiation protection; and exploration medical capabilities.Item NASA Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2015 to 2016 Overview(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Schneider, Walter; Gatens, Robyn; Anderson, Molly; Broyan, James; Macatangay, Ariel; Shull, Sarah; Perry, Jay; Toomarian, NikzadOver the last year, NASA has continued to refine the understanding and prioritization of technology gaps that must be closed in order to achieve Evolvable Mars Campaign objectives. These efforts are reflected in updates to the technical area roadmaps released by NASA in 2015 and have guided technology development and maturation tasks that have been sponsored by various programs. This paper provides an overview of the refined Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) strategic planning, as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2015 and early 2016 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2015 and subsequent years will also be described.Item NASA Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2016 to 2017 Overview(47th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2017-07-16) Anderson, Molly; Broyan, James; Gatens, Robyn; Macatangay, Ariel; Perry, Jay; Schneider, Walter; Toomarian, NikzadNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s life support community has made significant progress in the last year advancing key technologies and capabilities to enable future exploration missions. Technology gap identification and prioritization has remained fairly consistent. The development teams have completed key development milestones to prove or disprove the feasibility of new technology. Decisions were made to narrow technology options and even make the first selections for technologies that will be demonstrated at full scale on the International Space Station (ISS). Detailed planning for integrated system demonstrations on ISS has begun. Also, other activities began to investigate the ECLS system design and integration considerations for development of capabilities for the cislunar proving ground. This paper provides an overview of the refined Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) strategic planning, and overall roadmap updates, as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2016 and early 2017 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2017 and subsequent years are also described.Item NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2017 to 2018 Overview(48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2018-07-08) Sargusingh, Miriam; Anderson, Molly; Perry, Jay; Gatens, Robyn; Broyan, James; Macatangay, Ariel; Schneider, Walter; Toomarian, NikzadOver the last year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has made steps towards defining a path for extending human presence beyond low Earth orbit. The environmental control and life support (ECLS) technology gap identification and prioritization has remained fairly consistent throughout the past year during which the ECLS community has continued to refine and execute the plan for advancing key technologies and capabilities that enable future exploration missions. The development teams have completed key milestones, moving toward prototypes for ground and on-orbit demonstration. Detailed planning for integrated system demonstrations on ISS has continued. Studies to refine deep space exploration requirements, design and integration considerations were performed. Of particular concern for the emerging deep space exploration architecture was consideration of long-duration intermittent dormancy. This paper provides an overview of the refined ECLS strategic planning and overall roadmap updates as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2017 and early 2018 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2018 and subsequent years are also described.Item NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2019 to 2020 Overview(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Schneider, Walter; Perry, Jay; Broyan, James; Macatangay, Ariel; McKinley, Melissa; Meyer, Caitlin; Owens, Andrew; Toomarian, Nikzad; Gatens, RobynDuring 2019 and 2020, NASA’s Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) technology development projects have taken vital steps toward establishing readiness for the next generation of human space exploration missions. Technology demonstration systems from last year have been operated on the International Space Station (ISS) and others have been launched. Development of future technology demonstrations is on-going. Facility and hardware development for ground testing to be conducted that strategically complements the on-orbit demonstrations and some ground testing has been initiated. Reliability studies have started to define requirements for on-orbit and ground testing and other investments to support exploration missions. These efforts support NASA missions beyond LEO and include Gateway, lunar surface, Mars transportation, and Mars surface. This paper provides an overview of the current ECLS strategic planning and roadmap as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2019 and early 2020 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2020 and subsequent years are also described.Item NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development for Exploration: 2020 to 2021 Overview(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Broyan, James; Gatens, Robyn; Schneider, Walter; Shaw, Laura; McKinley, Melissa; Ewert, Michael; Meyer, Marit; Ruff, Gary; Owens, Andrew; Meyer, CatlinThis paper provides an overview of NASA supported activities developing Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) technologies in the following capability areas: life support, environmental monitoring, fire safety, and logistics. NASA has been refining technology needs for deep space missions including Gateway, lunar surface, Mars transit, and Mars surface missions. Validating technologies in relevant environments, both in low earth orbit (LEO) and ground tests is critical in understanding technology performance and long duration performance. On-orbit and ground tests inform NASA�s technology decisions to fill exploration gaps. NASA has multiple technology projects across the technology readiness spectrum with potential to fill or partially fill exploration gaps. For each capability area, this paper will describe select capability gaps, NASA technology project maturation over the past year, and how key performance parameters (KPPs) are being used to measure the degree of capability gap closure. KPPs are evolving but they still provide a useful measure in communicating progress and identifying development needs to fill exploration gaps. The intent is to provide a very high-level overview describing the strategic approach to gap closure and provide references to additional technical details, progress, and KPPs.Item NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development for Exploration: 2021 to 2022 Overview(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Broyan, James; McKinley, Melissa; Stambaugh, Imelda; Ruff, Gary; Owens, AndrewOver the past year, significant progress has occurred in technology development, ground testing, and ISS technology demonstrations within the NASA Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) community. This paper provides a technology development update in the following capability areas: life support, environmental monitoring, fire safety, and logistics. Technologies for exploration missions must be reliable in their operation which support crewed mission phases. However, they also need to be put into reduced use or dormant states to support uncrewed mission phases and then successfully and reliably returned to a nominal state to support crew. Multi-year demonstration of systems operation across this range of conditions are essential to mission success. Project overviews will include how the current activity supports the goal of multi-year demonstrations, planned follow-on activities, and what type of exploration mission elements are targeted for infusion. Technologies must be demonstrated and validated early enough to inform early exploration element milestone reviews (mission concept reviews, systems requirement reviews and no later than preliminary design reviews) so that supporting vehicle systems can also be matured.Item Processing of Packing Foams Using Heat Melt Compaction(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Harris, Linden; Alba, Richard; Wignarajah, Kanapathipillai; Fisher, John; Monje, Oscar; Maryatt, Brandon; Broyan, James; Pace, GregoryFoam is used extensively as packing material for items sent to the International Space Station (ISS). Although lightweight, foam is bulky and can occupy a large fraction of the limited ISS volume. Four chemically distinct foams have been used on the ISS. In descending order of current usage, these are Plastazote > Zotek > Minicel > Pyrell. Processing foam with the Heat Melt Compactor (HMC), a solid waste treatment system, has been proposed to reduce the volume of foams stored on spacecraft. Prior to HMC testing, Thermogravimetric Analyses were conducted on the four foams as a precaution to ensure that the thermal decomposition temperatures were not within range of HMC operation (≤180°C). Pyrell was not tested with the HMC because it is known to release toxic compounds and comprises less than 1.5% of total foam usage on ISS resupply flights. Zotek, Minicel, Plastazote LD24FR (low density), and Plastazote LD45FR (high density) were processed with the HMC at 130, 150 and 170°C. Volume was reduced by 82.6% on average (n=19; std dev=4.88). Hydrocarbons and several other compounds emitted during foam processing were measured using a Total Hydrocarbon Analyzer and FTIR. Effects of process temperature and foam type on exhaust composition are discussed. Feeding of foams into the limited size opening of the HMC compaction chamber is likely to be a challenge, particularly in microgravity. Some suggestions are proposed to facilitate feeding foam into the HMC. Processing packing foam with the HMC has been shown to substantially reduce foam volume, and also has the potential benefit of producing radiation-shielding foam tiles.Item Space Food System Water Content: Considerations for ECLSS Water System Closure(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Douglas, Grace; Broyan, James; Johnson, MeredithThe water content of the food system has a direct impact on determining an efficient level of water system closure in the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) on a spaceflight mission. The standard food system, which makes up the bulk of the food on the International Space Station (ISS), consists of a variety of shelf stable foods that are provisioned to meet nutritional requirements. In this work, we developed a tool to estimate water content within the standard food system, given varying usage rates. Outcomes from this tool indicate that, as provisioned and with a predicted consumption rate that meets nutritional requirements, approximately 46% of the current standard food system is water. Around 88% of the water content in the food system was determined to be in the retort thermostabilized foods. Recent mission analysis has indicated it is beneficial to life support processing to reduce the water content to 30%. With the assumptions used in this analysis, approximately 37% of the retort thermostabilized foods (ready-to-eat, fully hydrated at launch) would need to be replaced with freeze-dried foods to meet this goal. The feasibility of developing a similar nutritional variety of acceptable and stable freeze-dried foods to replace this percentage of thermostabilized foods is currently unknown. Some foods are not as compatible with freeze-drying, and consideration must be given for provisioning balanced macro and micro-nutrition, variety, and acceptability, in addition to water content. ISS crew members have commented that the variety from different types of foods is important to prevent menu fatigue and maintain intake, health and performance. The ready-to-eat, fully hydrated foods are especially critical when crew time is limited. The impact of reducing these options on overall intake and resulting health and performance is currently unknown and would need to be assessed.Item Utilizing Gaps and Performance Measures to Inform NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Systems and Crew Health and Performance Technology Decisions(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Broyan, James; Abercromby, Andrew; Burg, AlexanderHuman spaceflight is a complex endeavor requiring multiple capabilities for transportation, crew health, scientific goals, and safe return to Earth. The difference between spaceflight proven capabilities and those needed for future exploration architectures is defined as a capability gap. Capability gaps are not technology specific. Each capability gap may be closed with a range of technologies that have unique benefits and challenges. Determining what a capability's relevant and distinguishing key performance parameters (KPPs) are for a mission is critical. Mass, power, and volume are always constrained and defining these in a way normalized by performance is very important. KPP definitions for reliability, dormancy, and integration needs are hard to define but also critical. Outside of technical considerations, the programmatic factors of the estimated time to develop the technology and how the technology validation objectives are matured are strong considerations in which technologies should be pursued and how they should leverage earlier mission elements before the longer duration missions. The Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Crew Health and Performance (CHP) capability areas are decomposed to high level gaps. KPPs should be technology agnostic. They can be used to both compare technologies and measure progress of technology development over time. KPPs help define when the gap is closed, and the core mission objectives can be accomplished. Proposed technology improvements to enhance a capability should balance improved KPPs and against investments in other capabilities that are not yet closed. A selection of gaps, KPPs, and validation objectives and their formulation, current state, and how they inform capability roadmap planning are discussed.