2017-07-062017-07-062017-07-16ICES_2017_51http://hdl.handle.net/2346/72889Cinda Chullen, NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), USATing Xie, Dept. of Elec. and Computer Eng., University of Maryland, College Park, USABrian Thomson, N5 Sensors, Inc., USABaomei Wen, N5 Sensors, Inc., USAAsha Rani, N5 Sensors, Inc., USARatan Debnath, N5 Sensors, Inc., USAAbhishek Motayed, N5 Sensors, Inc., USAICES402: Extravehicular Activity: PLSS SystemsThe 47th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in South Carolina, USA on 16 July 2017 through 20 July 2017NASA and N5 Sensors, Inc. through a STTR program are jointly developing ultra-small, low-power carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) gas sensors, ideally suited for integrated space suit monitoring. During extravehicular activities, it is vital to monitor the effectiveness of the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) in real-time to ensure the safety of the astronaut. Due to the unique environmental conditions within the space suit such as high humidity, large temperature swings, and operating pressure swings, measurement of key gases such as carbon dioxide relevant to astronaut’s safety and health are quite challenging. Additionally, size, weight, and power constraints on such detection devices make it impractical to use conventional sensors. Unique chip-scale, nanoengineered chemiresistive gas sensor architecture has been developed for this application, which can be operated in the typical space suit environmental conditions. Unique design combining the selective adsorption properties of the nanoclusters of metal-oxides and metals, provides selective detection of CO2 in high relative-humidity conditions. Future works will focus on sensor design refinement as well as implementation of other on-chip components for reliable operation. In addition, a fully-integrated prototype system will be developed that can be tested in a simulated environment to evaluate the figures of merit.application/pdfengN5 Sensorscarbon dioxideoxygenPortable Life Support System (PLSS)humiditynanoengineeredchemiresistivesensor architecturenanoclustersPresentation