Re: EML1 Considerations


Rand Simberg wrote:" There are many reasons that ISS has turned out as
it has, and few, perhaps none of them are intrinsic to building space
facilities. Without getting into a detailed critique of the program
that would be well beyond the scope of this article, a key point that
should be understood is that the ISS had many purposes, the most
important of which were political, rather than to actually do anything
useful in space (including providing continuing employment in key
congressional districts, providing foreign aid to Russia without
dipping into conventional State Department budgets for such things,
justifying the Shuttle development, etc.). It also suffered from
"mission creep," with requirements evolving and changing over time.
Most of its true program requirements could, in fact, be satisfied
without ever launching hardware into space, as evidenced by the fact
that it survived for well over a decade (much longer if one counts all
of the concept studies of the seventies and early eighties) without
doing so. Most importantly, it was not part of anything larger-it
became, and was, an end in itself."


Hey rand, the following information from the sts-116 press kit shows
the scientific studies that will take place from the beginning of the
sts-116 mission until the end of the expedition 14 mission that will
assist in making your above post a reality.

Tom

STS-116 press kit page 93 (pdf)
Additional Space Station Research From Now Until the End of Expedition
14

Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System
(ALTEA) integrates several diagnostic technologies to measure the
exposure of crew members to cosmic radiation. It will further our
understanding of radiation's impact on the human central nervous and
visual systems, and provide an assessment of
the radiation environment in the station.

Crew Earth Observations (CEO) takes advantage of the crew in space to
observe and
photograph natural and human made changes on Earth. The photographs
record the Earth's surface changes over time, along with more
fleeting events such as storms, floods, fires and volcanic eruptions.
Together, they provide researchers on Earth with vital, continuous
images to better understand the planet.

Space Flight Induced Reactivation of Latent Epstein Barr Virus (Epstein
Barr) performs
tests to study changes in the human immune function. Using blood and
urine samples
collected from crew members before and after spaceflight, the study
will provide insight for possible countermeasures to prevent the
potential development of infectious illness in
crew members during flight. Behavioral Issues Associated with Isolation
and

Confinement: Review and Analysis of Astronaut Journals, using journals
kept by the
crew and surveys, studies the effect of isolation to obtain
quantitative data on the importance of different behavioral issues in
long duration crews. Results will help NASA design equipment and
procedures to allow astronauts to best cope with isolation and long
duration spaceflight.

Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS) and Space
Acceleration
Measurement System (SAMSII) measure vibration and quasisteady
accelerations that
result from vehicle control burns, docking and undocking activities.
The two different
equipment packages measure vibrations at different frequencies.
Materials on the International Space Station Experiment 3 and 4 (MISSE
- 3 and 4) are the third and fourth in a series of five suitcase
sized test beds attached to the outside of the spacestation. The beds
were deployed during a spacewalk on STS-121 in July 2006. They will
expose hundreds of potential space construction materials and different
types of solar cells to the harsh environment of space. After being
mounted to the space station about a year, the equipment will be
returned to Earth for study. Investigators will use the resulting data
to design stronger, more durable spacecraft.


Nutritional Status Assessment (Nutrition) is the most comprehensive in
flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during
long duration space flight; this includes measures of bone metabolism,
oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes. This
study will impact both the definition of nutritional requirements and
development of food systems for future space exploration missions to
the Moon and Mars. This experiment will also help to understand the
impact of countermeasures (exercise and pharmaceuticals) on nutritional
status and nutrient requirements for astronauts.

SleepWake Actigraphy and Light Exposure During Spaceflight Long
(SleepLong) will
examine the effects of spaceflight on the sleep wake cycles of the crew
members during longduration stays on the space station.

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
EXPERIMENTS
The majority of Christer Fuglesang's time at the station will be
taken up with station assembly tasks. However, he will still be
undertaking a number of experiments and additional activities during
the mission. One experiment (Chromosome2), one activity monitoring
radiation dosimetry (EuCPD), and two education activities (ALTEA Filmed
Lesson, Frisbee Competition) are supported by the European Space Agency
(ESA). The Particle Flux Demonstrator is a Swedish National Space Board
education experiment, and ALTEA is supported by ASI, the Italian Space
Agency.

ALTEA (Human Physiology/Radiation Dosimetry) The ALTEA project
investigates the effects of cosmic radiation on brain function. The
focus of the program will be on abnormal visual perceptions (often
reported as ''light flashes'' by astronauts) and the impact
that particle radiation has on the retina and visual structures of the
brain under weightless conditions. ALTEA will also provide more
information on the radiation environment in the station. The ALTEA
facility is a helmet shaped device, which covers most of the
astronaut's head. It consists of six particle detectors and will
permit a 3D reconstruction of cosmic radiation passing through the
brain: measuring particle trajectory, energy and particle type. At the
same time, a 32channel EEG will measure the astronaut's brain
activity and a visual stimulator and a pushbutton will be used to
determine visual performance and occurrence of light flashes. When not
in use by an astronaut, the ALTEA device will be used to collect
continuous measurements of the cosmic radiation in the U.S. Destiny
laboratory on the station."

.

Loading