Reducing Mission Logistics with Multipurpose Cargo Transfer Bags

The Logistics Reduction (LR) project within Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) is tasked with reducing logistical mass and repurposing logistical items. Multipurpose Cargo Transfer Bags (MCTB) have been designed such that they can serve the same purpose as a Cargo Transfer Bag (CTB), the common logistics carrying bag for the International Space Station (ISS). After use as a cargo carrier, a regular CTB becomes trash, whereas the MCTB can be unfolded into a flat panel for reuse. Concepts and potential benefits for various MCTB applications will be discussed including partitions, crew quarters, solar radiation storm shelters, acoustic blankets, and forward osmosis water processing. Acoustic MCTBs are currently in use on ISS to reduce the noise generated by the T2 treadmill, which reaches the hazard limit at high speeds. The development of the AMCTB included identification of keep-out zones, acoustic properties, deployment considerations, and structural testing. Features developed for these considerations are applicable to MCTBs for all crew outfitting applications

Multipurpose Cargo Transfer Bags fro Reducing Exploration Mission Logistics

The Logistics Reduction (LR) project within the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) division is tasked with reducing logistical mass and repurposing logistical items. Multipurpose Cargo Transfer Bags (MCTB) have been designed such that they can serve the same purpose as a Cargo Transfer Bag (CTB), the common logistics carrying bag for the International Space Station (ISS). After use as a cargo carrier, a regular CTB becomes trash, whereas the MCTB can be unfolded into a flat panel for reuse. Concepts and potential benefits for various MCTB applications will be discussed including partitions, crew quarters, solar radiation storm shelters, acoustic blankets, and forward osmosis water processing. Acoustic MCTBs are currently in use on ISS to reduce the noise generated by the T2 treadmill, which reaches the hazard limit at high speeds. The development of the AMCTB included identification of keep out zones, acoustic properties, deployment considerations, and structural testing. Features developed for these considerations are applicable to MCTBs for all crew outfitting applications

Development of a Universal Waste Management System

NASA is working with a number of commercial companies to develop the next low Earth orbit spacecraft. The hardware volume and weight constraints are similar to or greater than those of the Apollo era. This, coupled with the equally demanding cost challenge of the proposed commercial vehicles, causes much of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) designs to be reconsidered. The Waste Collection System (WCS) is within this group of ECLSS hardware. The development to support this new initiative is discussed within. A WCS concept - intended to be common for all the vehicle platforms currently on the drawing board - is being developed. The new concept, referred to as the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), includes favorable features from previous designs while improving on other areas on previous Space Shuttle and the existing International Space Station (ISS) WCS hardware, as needed. The intent is to build a commode that requires less crew time, improved cleanliness, and a 75% reduction in volume and weight compared to the previous US ISS/Extended Duration Orbitor WCS developed in the 1990s. The UWMS is most similar to the ISS Development Test Objective (DTO) WCS design. It is understood that the most dramatic cost reduction opportunity occurs at the beginning of the design process. To realize this opportunity, the cost of each similar component between the UWMS and the DTO WCS was determined. The comparison outlined were the design changes that would result with the greatest impact. The changes resulted in simplifying the approach or eliminating components completely. This initial UWMS paper will describe the system layout approach and a few key features of major components. Future papers will describe the UWMS functionality, test results, and components as they are developed

Development of a Universal Waste Management System

A concept for a Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) has been developed based on the knowledge gained from over 50 years of space travel. It is being designed for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and Multi ]Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and is based upon the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) commode. The UMWS was modified to enhance crew interface and reduce volume and cost. The UWMS will stow waste in fecal canisters, similar to the EDO, and urine will be stowed in bags for in orbit change out. This allows the pretreated urine to be subsequently processed and recovered as drinking water. The new design combines two fans and a rotary phase separator on a common shaft to allow operation by a single motor. This change enhances packaging by reducing the volume associated with an extra motor, associated controller, harness, and supporting structure. The separator pumps urine to either a dual bag design for COTS vehicles or directly into a water reclamation system. The commode is supported by a concentric frame, enhancing its structural integrity while further reducing the volume from the previous design. The UWMS flight concept development effort is underway and an early output of the development will be a ground based UMWS prototype for manned testing. Referred to as the Gen 3 unit, this prototype will emulate the crew interface included in the UWMS and will offer a great deal of knowledge regarding the usability of the new design, allowing the design team the opportunity to modify the UWMS flight concept based on the manned testing

Exploration Toilet Integration Challenges on the International Space Station

On the International Space Station (ISS) there are currently two toilets. One is located in the Russian segment'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

Learning to dislike alcohol: conditioning negative implicit attitudes toward alcohol and its effect on drinking behavior

Rationale: Since implicit attitudes toward alcohol play an important role in drinking behavior, a possible way to obtain a behavioral change is changing these implicit attitudes. Objectives: This study examined whether a change in implicit attitudes and in drinking behavior can be achieved via evaluative conditioning. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition and a control condition. In the experimental condition, participants were subjected to an evaluative conditioning procedure that consistently pairs alcohol-related cues with negative stimuli. In the control condition, alcohol-related cues were consistently paired with neutral stimuli during the evaluative conditioning phase. Implicit attitudes, explicit attitudes, and drinking behavior were measured before and after the evaluative conditioning phase. Results: Following the evaluative conditioning procedure, participants in the experimental condition showed stronger negative implicit attitudes toward alcohol and consumed less alcohol compared to participants in the control condition. However, this effect was only found when the evaluative conditioning task paired alcohol-related cues with general negative pictures, but not when using pictures of frowning faces. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that evaluative conditioning can effectively change implicit attitudes toward alcohol and also suggest that this procedure can be used to change drinking behavior. Hence, evaluative conditioning may be a useful new intervention tool to combat alcohol misuse

Understanding the retinal basis of vision across species

The vertebrate retina first evolved some 500 million years ago in ancestral marine chordates. Since then, the eyes of different species have been tuned to best support their unique visuoecological lifestyles. Visual specializations in eye designs, large-scale inhomogeneities across the retinal surface and local circuit motifs mean that all species' retinas are unique. Computational theories, such as the efficient coding hypothesis, have come a long way towards an explanation of the basic features of retinal organization and function; however, they cannot explain the full extent of retinal diversity within and across species. To build a truly general understanding of vertebrate vision and the retina's computational purpose, it is therefore important to more quantitatively relate different species' retinal functions to their specific natural environments and behavioural requirements. Ultimately, the goal of such efforts should be to build up to a more general theory of vision