AAAR 35th Annual Conference October 17 - October 21, 2016 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Update on Aerosol Sampling Experiment on the International Space Station
MARIT MEYER, Gary Casuccio, NASA Glenn Research Center
Abstract Number: 547 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique indoor environment which serves as both home and workplace to an astronaut crew, typically six people. The ISS has some aerosol sources in common with buildings on earth, but can be considered an isolated volume of air with only internally generated aerosols from occupants, their activities and ISS infrastructure. An experiment to collect particles in the ISS living spaces has been in work for over a year. The hardware was launched to the ISS in July 2016, and now two types of aerosol samplers are stowed and ready for use. The Active Aerosol Sampler (AAS) is a battery operated thermophoretic sampler with an internal pump which draws in air at a rate of 0.5 mL/min and collects particles on a transmission electron microscope grid. This is a commercial-off-the-shelf device that was modified for operation in low gravity. The Passive Aerosol Sampler (PAS) has five sampling surfaces which will be exposed to air for different durations in an effort to collect an optimal quantity of particles for microscopy analysis. These samples will be returned to Earth in February 2017.
The AAS sample analysis will be primarily focused on ultrafine particles whereas the PAS sample analysis will be used to characterize the larger size fractions. Analysis techniques will include: light microscopy; manual scanning electron microscopy (MSEM) analysis (secondary and backscattered imaging with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis; computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM); and Raman spectroscopy. A key component of the analytical methodology is the ability to relocate particles in different instruments (e.g., light microscope →Raman →SEM →CCSEM).
Information on the flight hardware and planned experiments, astronaut training details, and a status update on the launch and sampling activities to date will be presented.