Environmental+Control+&+Life+Support+-+AV


 * ==Getting Started==
 * **Click on the edit button above to put your own content on this page.**

Rubric: [[file:Space Exploration Adventure Rubric.doc]], [[file:Space Exploration Adventure Rubric.pdf]]

 * Written Information **: As you enter text, the area will expand. Make sure to check the required details of the assignment and review the rubric (see document links) to self-assess your work. Your paragraphs will be in block format, enter one return between paragraphs. The tab key, indent feature will not appear when typing directly into the wiki page.

Visuals Make sure to include the location of your image; add a caption with this information

Image above: These seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-126 crew portrait. Astronaut Christopher J. Ferguson, commander, is at center; and astronaut Eric A. Boe, pilot, is third from the right. Remaining crew members, pictured from left to right, are astronauts Sandra H. Magnus, Stephen G. Bowen, Donald R. Pettit, Robert S. (Shane) Kimbrough and Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, all mission specialists. Image credit: NASA || VPCAR Water Recycling - NASA Advances Water Recycling for Space Travel and Earth Use NASA || //NASA's new Water Recovery System will make it possible to double to six the number of crewmembers who can live aboard the International Space Station. Michigan Tech researchers helped optimize the design, increasing its efficiency by 30 percent. (Credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA-MSFC))// ||
 * I

**Works Cited** **Sources** : Include the source information for all of the magazine articles, reference sources (encyclopedias) and web site pages that were used to complete your project. The source information for encyclopedias may be found at the end or beginning of each entry in iCONN. When using periodicals, the publication information will be at the beginning or end of the article. This needs to be formatted for MLA standards. If it is not labeled 'Source Citation' it can be formatted appropriately by using EasyBib.com. You should use EasyBib for the web sites. The final Works Cited should be listed in alphabetical order by the first word of the source citation. "Milky Way." //Kids InfoBits Presents: Astronomy//. Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Kids InfoBits. Detroit: Gale, 2012. "The Milky Way." //WMAP's Universe//. NASA, 28 June 2010. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. . Vergano, Dan. "Galaxy Bracketed by Big Bubbles." //USA Today// 10 Nov. 2010: 05A. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.
 * Sample:**

[] [] [] []
 * Your Source List:**
 * []**

**Topic: Research Focus**
 * What is your topic? STS-126 Extreme home improvement**
 * State the focus of your research: Environmental Control and Life Support**

**Notes**

Include notes, statistics and facts that you will use to write your final paper. You may want to label sections of your notes to help you be more organized as you write. As you take notes from a source, you should list the source citation in the Works Cited section above.


 * 1) Space Shuttle Endeavour is carrying two refriger-sized racks packed with a distiller and an assortment of filters designed to process astronauts urine
 * 2) and sweat into fresh drinking water
 * 3) Image above: These seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-126 crew portrait. Astronaut Christopher J. Ferguson, commander, is at center; and astronaut Eric A. Boe, pilot, is third from the right. Remaining crew members, pictured from left to right, are astronauts Sandra H. Magnus, Stephen G. Bowen, Donald R. Pettit, Robert S. (Shane) Kimbrough and Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, all mission specialists. Image credit: NASA
 * 4) Veteran space flier Navy Capt. Christopher J. Ferguson commanded the STS-126 mission aboard Endeavour that delivered equipment to the International Space Station that will enable larger crews to reside aboard the complex. Air Force Lt. Col. Eric A. Boe served as the pilot. The mission specialists were Navy Capt. Stephen G. Bowen, Army Lt. Col. Robert S. Kimbrough, Navy Capt. Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper and NASA astronauts Donald R. Pettit and Sandra H. Magnus.
 * 5) The station crew depends now on water carried up aboard a space shuttle or cargo rocket. But an operational water recycler is expected to cut that need by 65 percent by producing about 6,000 pounds of potable water each year. That’s enough fresh water to allow the station to host six crew members instead of three.
 * 6) ISS crewmembers must save as much water as possible. Each is allocated about two liters daily. They stretch the ration by collecting, cleaning and reusing wastewater, condensate in the air and urine. A new technology to improve recycling on the ISS is being developed by engineers at Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, Inc., Windsor Locks, Conn., and researchers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Ala. The Water Processor Assembly (WPA) will be the first major hardware delivery of the Regenerative Environmental Control Life Support System. The WPA and the Urine Processor Assembly make up the Water Recovery System (WRS), which feeds the Oxygen Generation System. These combined systems will support up to a seven-member crew.
 * 7) "The Water Processing Assembly can daily produce 35 gallons of potable recycled water," said Bob Bagdigian, MSFC Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System Project Manager. After the new systems are installed, annual delivered water to the ISS should decrease by approximately 15,960 pounds, about 1,600 gallons. The WPA is scheduled for delivery in 2008.
 * 8) Water purity is also important. Chemical and microbial contaminants make it unappetizing or unhealthy, and it can clog complicated fluid systems. The Aerobic Rotational Membrane System (ARMS) research project at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., may help. "We're trying to move toward a biological treatment method using bacteria to help cleanse the water," said Tony Rector, Dynamac Corporation bioprocess engineer at KSC. The KSC prototype shop fabricated a model of the system. It is being tested inside KSC's Space Life Sciences Laboratory, and Rector and colleagues designed it.
 * 9) At NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), Moffett Field, Calif., a water recycler enabling reuse for three years without resupply is being developed on a timeline to fit into exploration plans, according to ARC scientist Michael Flynn. A preliminary engineering development unit can hourly recycle 13.2 pounds, about one gallon, of waste into drinkable water.
 * 10) "If we were going to Mars tomorrow, this is the water treatment system astronauts might well use," Flynn said. He is developing it in cooperation with Water Reuse Technology, Inc., Garden Valley, Calif. "This unit can enable a six- person crew to shower, wash clothes and dishes, drink water and flush toilets over three years without resupply," Flynn said.
 * 11) Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, are developing technology to help astronauts live in space. They are studying biological water processors to minimize their size in space habitats. JSC microbiologist Leticia Vega describes her work as making biological water processors modular, so they can be easily removed and cleaned. Researchers are also identifying soaps that rapidly degrade at high concentrations. Cleansers, like shampoo and soap, affect the size of systems, because of the time it takes for them to break down. Researchers are studying ways of optimizing size of ion exchange beds used for the final purification of water.
 * 12) Water recycling technologies developed by NASA will undergo combined water recovery systems testing at JSC to meet exploration timelines. Many of these recycling technologies may have Earth-based uses. NASA is working with the Expeditionary Unit Water Purification Program of the U.S. Office of Naval Research and Bureau of Reclamation to explore ways to use recycling in remote locations.
 * 13) The Water Recovery System, made possible in part by researchers at Michigan Technological University, can transform ordinary pee into water so pure it rivals the cleanest on Earth.
 * 14) David Hand was the lead researcher on the project, which ran from 1993 to 1997 at Tech. It was a memorable time. "We received jars of sweat from NASA," he said. "Then we did experiments on the system, measured it at every step, evaluated it and made recommendations."
 * 15) Under the new system, urine undergoes an initial distillation process and then joins the rest of the recovered fluids in the water processor. The processor filters out solids such as hair and lint and then sends the wastewater through a series of multifiltration beds, in which contaminants are removed through adsorption and ion exchange.
 * 16) "What's left over in the water are a few non adsorbing organics and solvents, like nail polish remover, and they go into a reactor that breaks them all down to carbon dioxide, water and a few ions," said Hand, a professor of civil and environmental engineering.
 * 17) After a final check for microbes, the water is again clean and ready to drink.
 * 18) The crew of NASA’s last space shuttle launch, Atlantis, is set to test a pee-recycling bag to convert urine into drinkable water. The device is essentially a bag within a bag which uses osmosis to move water into solutions of increasing concentration of sugar (the osmolarity driving compound). The result is akin to a sport drink and has been described as tasting like Capri Sun.
 * 19) Astronauts aboard the International Space Station already drink water from a urine-recycling machine, but that is highly energy intensive and certainly not readily portable or cost effective for use on terra firma.
 * 20) This device was developed by the Bionetics corporation and demonstrated at Kennedy Space Center recently. More info can be found here.
 * 21) This approach is quite simple and suggests a potential path for some interesting senior design projects (at least as a first step very small project). Students could be given the task of developing a small, portable, non-powered device to recycle urine using as inexpensive of materials as possible. To accomplish a basic design would require some knowledge of materials and membranes, chemical thermodynamics (to evaluate the osmotic driving force), and a little ingenuity.
 * 22) Water - it's essential for life. When future [|space] explorers venture beyond [|low Earth orbit], their only [|water] supply will be on board their spacecraft. During the final space shuttle flight, NASA scientists plan to have astronauts test in microgravity a new method for [|recycling] "used" water.
 * 23) The idea is to make a fortified drink that provides hydration and nutrients from all sources available aboard a spacecraft, such as wastewater and even urine. The method set for testing uses a process known as forward osmosis.
 * 24) "Forward osmosis is the natural diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane," explains Michael Flynn, research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center. "The membrane acts as a barrier that allows small molecules, such as water, to pass through while blocking larger molecules like salts, sugars, starches, proteins, viruses, bacteria and parasites."
 * 25) The forward osmosis method already is used for earthbound applications, allowing water of unknown purity to be changed into drinkable water in six to eight hours using a bag containing two chambers separated by a membrane. The commercial technology aids in diverse settings, from outdoor sports like hiking, to the military, to natural disasters where water purification is essential for survival.
 * 26) The membrane alone can work for most water, but a two-stage system is necessary when recycling urine. It must first be filtered using an [|activated carbon] bed, which removes urea and alcohol that would pass through the membrane alone.
 * 27) Scientists from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida plan to test a space-adapted version of the bag aboard [|space shuttle Atlantis] during the STS-135 mission this summer. The group at Kennedy, led by NASA Project Manager Spencer Woodward, will include in the shuttle's cargo six forward osmosis bag kits for the astronauts to test. The bags' manufacturer, Hydration Technology Innovations of Albany, Ore., made a few adaptations to their commercial product for spaceflight.