AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Database for Aerosols on the International Space Station
MARIT MEYER, Meytar Sorek-Hamer, NASA Glenn Research Center
Abstract Number: 37 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract The microgravity environment affects the sizes and types of aerosols in the indoor living spaces of a spacecraft. Particle behavior is non-intuitive without gravitational settling, and astronauts must contend with airborne particles on the order of hundreds of micrometers and larger, in addition to the smallest sizes we are accustomed to on Earth. Aerosol sampling has taken place on the International Space Station (ISS) twice, with the archival samples returned to Earth, resulting in a large body of data from microscopy. Many of the collected particles have unusual morphologies and contain a large variety of metals. As this was the first opportunity to study particles on a long-duration space mission, the initial analysis approach with the results focused on understanding what is airborne, including some source apportionment. In order to make the data more useful to stakeholders within NASA, a database of analyzed particles was created. The search feature queries all analyzed particles by different particle characteristics, including material, diameter, shape characteristics, ISS location, etc. The output gives statistics on the different types of particles and show ISS locations were emission sources are significant. This information can be used to determine whether particle-producing materials or processes should be changed to reduce ISS aerosols. The first step in identifying whether particle sources should be mitigated is to identify ISS aerosols containing materials with known toxicity or health effects. Several case studies of undesirable ISS particle classes will be highlighted in this talk.