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NASA PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH PROGRAM:REPLANNING FOR STRATEGIC RESEARCH

E.H. Trinh and J. Robey Physical Sciences Research Division

Office of Biological and Physical Research. NASA Headquarters, Washington DC 20546

ABSTRACT

The restructuring of the research capabilities of the International Space Station (ISS) and the associated replanning of the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) science and technology utilization strategies have been completed. An OBPR Enterprise Strategy has been adopted which outlines a series of research Roadmaps that will guide the Earth and ISS-based activities for the coming ten years. This document is an integral component of the overall NASA Strategic Plan, and can be accessed at the following URL: http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/general_info/strat.html. The Physical Sciences Research (PSR) program will focus on carrying out as much of the previously well defined and established fundamental research program aboard the ISS as the new NASA space flight capabilities will optimally accommodate. The program will also continue to focus its attention on strengthening a ‘strategic’ research portfolio to lay the foundation for new or enhanced technologies for human space exploration. New focused elements of the PSR program will start as ground-based efforts, and will take advantage of its current inter-disciplinary research character to enable both the human health as well as the technological elements of the space program. PSR will replan its current flight and ground-based research timetable for the delay in the post-Columbia accident Shuttle flight manifest, and will adjust its approach to implementing ISS research to increase automation, remote commanding, and on-board data analysis. Increased emphasis will be placed on research elements targeting PSR programs in low- and microgravity engineering systems, bioscience and engineering research, and technology development for in-situ and extra-terrestrial resource utilization,

INTRODUCTION

A crucial issue for the physical sciences research program is the need to strike an effective balance between the commitment to produce substantive results from ongoing and near-term Earth-bound and space-based research and the mission to develop enabling technologies for human space exploration. The PSR program content is broadly described by the new four primary OBPR Research Questions in the following manner:

1. How can we assure the survival of humans traveling far from Earth?

The primary focus of this question is to address the development of effective medical and psychological countermeasures to the deleterious effects of the spaceflight environment on human physiology and behavioral health. The PSR contribution to answering this question is to provide a better understanding of the physical and chemical effects of reduced gravity on physiological ‘systems’, to develop innovative biomedical diagnostics, and to utilize mammalian tissues to characterize the effects of the space environment on human organs.

1. How does life respond to gravity and space environments?

The primary focus is to develop a fundamental understanding of the effects of gravity on biological systems from the cellular to the complex organism level through changes in their development and interactions. PSR will contribute through a better understanding of the biophysics of cellular systems and cellular sub-components directly responding to reduced gravity, through the application of atomic and molecular manipulation techniques and quantitative diagnostics on the cellular scale, and

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through investigations of cellular assembly mechanisms in reduced gravity.

1. What new opportunities can research bring to expand understanding of the laws of nature and enrich lives on Earth?

This question describes the PSR program emphasis for the last fifteen years: To utilize the unique reduced-gravity environment to advance fundamental scientific knowledge with an emphasis on accomplishing the broadest multi-disciplinary impact, and to apply this enhanced understanding to Earth-based technological endeavors. The accomplishments of the aggregate research portfolio of the traditional PSR disciplines have not only been recognized by the National Research Council as substantial contributions to scientific knowledge, but they have also been identified as crucial information for the understanding of basic gravity-related issues requiring resolution prior to the development of advanced space-based engineering systems. A special focus for the coming years will be to elucidate the biophysical mechanisms of primary importance in a reduced gravity environment, and on applying this understanding to mitigate adverse human physiological effects related to space flight.

1. What technology must we create to enable the next explorers to go beyond where we have been?

This question focuses on the development of advanced life support sub-systems for long-duration deep space flight, the development of reduced-gravity engineering sub-systems for power management, radiation shielding, and in-situ extra-terrestrial resource management, the enhancement of the human-robotic interface, and finally the implementation of integrated smart environmental sensor systems for environmental hazards and fire prevention and suppression. The PSR contribution is the near-term implementation of reduced-gravity engineering systems for power and thermal management, and the applied research required for the development of materials and technologies to meet all the fundamental infrastructure requirements for sustaining human life in a hostile environment. A particular emphasis will be placed in the coming years on advanced materials research for radiation shielding and multi-functional structures, on the pursuit of innovative materials processes for in-space fabrication and repair, and in the enhancement of

current efforts in developing novel resource utilization strategies and technologies for in-situ extra-terrestrial extended human residence.It is apparent that this new focus on the OBPR Organizing Questions requires an enhanced level of cooperation and coordination between the life and physical sciences components of the OBPR enterprise as well as other NASA Enterprises and research agencies.

REPLANNING OF ISS FLIGHT RESEARCH

Current PSR research activities aboard the ISS consist primarily of long-duration protein crystallization experiments, mammalian tissue growth investigations, and a series of research investigations in materials science, fluid engineering, and combustion science utilizing the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). Current activities have been ratcheted down significantly until resumption of Space Shuttle flights in late 2004. Until then, the only means of transportation of equipment and resupply to the ISS are provided by the Russian Soyuz and Progress unmanned spacecrafts.

After resumption of Space Shuttle flights, new additional PSR-sponsored pressurized research facilities will be placed in the queue for launch to the ISS. This will result in a delay in the research facility deployment amounting to about eighteen to twenty four months. Among these are: 1) the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) with the Modular Drop Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) designed to accommodate up to four already selected flight investigations; 2) the Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) with two furnace inserts, the Quench Module Insert (QMI) developed by NASA and the Solidification and Quenching Furnace (SQF) and Low Gradient Furnace (LGF) developed by ESA, and designed to process four US selected investigations and a large number of European experiments; 3) The Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) with the Light Microscopy Module (LMM) designed to carry out four US selected investigations. The expected completion dates for the various research racks are: November 2004 for CIR, January 2005 for FIR, and June 2005 for MSRR. Assuming launch dates falling within 2005 and 2006, these facilities should finish processing the first research investigations in the queue by the end of 2007. These facilities are shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: CIR, FIR, and MSRR facilities.

Combustion Integrated Rack(CIR) and MDCAinsert

Materials Science Research Rack-MSRRand InsertsInsert (MSRR)

Fluid Integrated Rack - FIRLight Microscopy Module - LMM

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The current Facilities, (CIR, FIR, MSRR) are all designed to be modular at the lowest possible levels. This allows technology upgrades to be incorporated to accommodate new and different science, and to increase throughput. For instance, an improved tele-science capability could be heavily relied upon for data collection, reducing requirements for transportation of equipment and samples down to Earth. They have also been designed for minimal crew intervention, only scheduling hands-on activities at crucial time periods in order to optimize the value of human presence.

In addition to these major pressurized research facilities, the PSR program is planning to complete and deploy external research laboratories to carry out laser cooling and atomic physics research focusing on the implementation of space-based atomic clocks with exquisite accuracy.

The first set of ISS research investigations will primarily address topics of Organizing Question 3, while the next set of flight experiments associated with new inserts for the facilities will focus on Organizing Question 4 and part of Question 3. The establishment of a robust research program in the areas listed above has already been initiated through an enhanced emphasis on applied research oriented towards human space flight technology in the PSR Annual NASA Research Announcement (NRA). The output of focused and technology-oriented research workshops has served as the basis of new research solicitation directions in all the current relevant PSR scientific disciplines. The research communities (Biotechnology, Combustion Science, Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena, Fundamental Physics, and Materials Science) associated with the PSR program will be asked to focus their attention on four primary mission-oriented areas :

1. Biophysics and Bioengineering research and development targeting the understanding of low-gravity physio-logical effects and the introduction of distributed biomedical sensors for targeted diagnostics.

2. Advanced materials fundamental research and development for spacecraft structure, power and propulsion, radiation shielding, and advanced sensors.

3. Micro and reduced-gravity engineering systems for closed-loop life support, power generation and propulsion, fire research, detection, and suppression.

4. In-situ resources development for in-space fabrication and for extra-terrestrial exploration and habitation, including the development of advanced biology-inspired approaches for novel space technologies and robotic enhancement of human capabilities.

The PSR program objectives are to develop robust ground-based and accelerated flight research activities to enable a feasible human space exploration timetable. The outcome will be in the form of products that will enable the selection of design for future missions of human space exploration, such as experimentally validated prototype designs for devices and integrated systems, predictive numerical models for engineering design, and validated performance using robotic spacecraft missions.

SUMMARY

The impact of the re-planned human space flight program has been reflected in a change in the time-table for ISS research facility on-orbit deployment and of the subsequent implemen-tation of the selected research. The PSR program is continuing to rebalance its research portfolio by strengthening its human space exploration component.

REFERENCES

1. “ Assessment of the Directions in Microgravity and Physical Sciences Research at NASA”, National Research Council, Space Studies Board, Committee for Microgravity Research report (2002). Available at :http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/cmgrII_exesum.pdf.

2. “Biological and Physical Research Enterprise Strategy” (2003). Available at: http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/general_info/strat.html

3. “Microgravity research in support of technologies for the human exploration and development of space and planetary bodies” Report by the Committee on Microgravity Research, Space Studies Board. National Academy Press (2000).