Skip to main content
Log in

Results from the air quality monitor (gas chromatograph-differential mobility spectrometer) experiment on board the international space station

  • Original Research
  • Published:
International Journal for Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Abstract

The Air Quality Monitor (AQM), formerly called the microAnalyzer™, showed great promise in ground testing and preflight preparation to replace the aging Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA) on the International Space Station (ISS). The atmosphere in the ISS is mostly scrubbed and recirculated (a partially closed environmental system), and for this reason the measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in its atmosphere is an important function to protect crew health and safety. Evaluation of the AQM in ground testing was impressive, but the unique environment of ISS required a thorough in-situ vetting of the capability. In May 2009, the first two AQMs arrived on ISS as an experiment to evaluate their performance and assess methods and crew procedures. In total, three AQMs have been operated aboard ISS spanning almost 3 years. After the first year of operation, the decision was made to build operational AQM units as a replacement for VOA, which was removed from ISS in August 2009. This paper presents the AQM data used to make the decision to build an operational version of the hardware. As an experiment of new hardware it was expected that some performance issues would arise, but it was also deemed necessary that solutions to these problems would not substantially change the form, function, or cost of the operational version. The identified issues and their solutions that related directly to the AQM’s analytical performance during the first year of the experiment are discussed briefly with the focus on how these changes are expected to improve the performance of the operational version. Recent AQM data from ISS will be presented to illustrate how some changes in software and methods are already improving the AQM’s analytical performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. (1996) Guidelines for developing spacecraft maximum allowable concentrations for space station contaminants. National Academy Press, Washington, DC

  2. Garcia H, Limero T, James JT (1992) Setting spacecraft maximum allowable concentrations for 1 h or 24 h contingency exposures to airborne chemicals. 22nd International Conference on Environmental Systems, Technical Paper 921410, Seattle, WA, 1992

  3. (1994) Spacecraft maximum allowable concentrations for selected airborne contaminants, vol. 1–5. National Academy Press, Washington, DC

  4. James JT (2008) Spacecraft maximum allowable concentrations for airborne contaminants (JSC-20684)

  5. James JT, Limero T, Boyd J, Martin M, Beck S, Covington P, Peters R (2002) Toxicological Assessment of International Space Station Atmosphere from Mission 5A to 8A. 32nd International Conference on Environmental Systems, SAE Technical Paper 2002-01-2299, San Antonio, TX, 2002

  6. Brittain A, Bass P, Breach J, Limero T (2000) Instrumentation for analyzing volatile organic compounds in inhabited enclosed environments. 30th International Conference on Environmental Systems, SAE Technical Paper 2000-01-2434, Toulouse, France, 2000

  7. Limero T (2003) Validation of the Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA) aboard the International Space Station. 33rd International Conference on Environmental Systems, SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-2646, Vancouver, BC, 2003

  8. Limero T, Reese E (2002) First operational use of the ISS-VOA in a potential contingency event. Int J Ion Mobil Spectrom 5(3):27–30

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Limero T, Cheng P, Reese E, Trowbridge J (2010) Results of the air quality monitor’s experiment to measure volatile organic compounds aboard the international space station, 40th International Conference on Environmental Systems, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Technical Paper: AIAA 2010-6278, Barcelona, Spain, July 2010

  10. Limero T, Reese E, Cheng P, Trowbridge J (2011) Preparation of a gas chromatograph-differential mobility spectrometer to measure target volatile organic compounds on the international space station. Int J Ion Mobil Spectrom 14:81–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. James J (2009) A history of space toxicology mishaps: lessons learned and risk management, 39th International Conference on Environmental Systems, Technical Paper 2009-01-2591, Savannah, GA, 2009

  12. Limero T (2006) Evaluation of gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry for the measurement of air contaminants in spacecraft. 36th International Conference on Environmental Systems, SAE Technical Paper 2006-01-2153, Norfolk, VA, 2006

  13. Eiceman G, Krylov E, Krylova N, Douglas K, Porter L, Nazarov E, Miller R (2002) A molecular and structural basis for compensation voltage. Int J Ion Mobil Spectrom 5(3):1–6

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Scientific Instrumentation Specialists, P.O. Box 8941, Moscow, Idaho, 83843

  15. (2006) Entech Instruments Incorporated, http://www.entechinst.com/Op.cit., Limero

  16. Air toxics–monitoring methods (TO-1, TO-14, TO-14a and TO-15). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/ttnamti1/airtox.html

  17. Limero T, Cheng P, Reese E, Jones J, Wallace W (2011) Operational air quality monitor: scientific studies in preparation for flight, 41st International Conference on Environmental Systems, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Technical Paper: AIAA-2011-5024, Portland, OR., July 2011

  18. Limero T, Chen E, Cheng P, Boyd (2007) Differential mobility spectrometry: preliminary findings on determination of fundamental constants, Proceedings of the 16th International Society for Ion Mobility Spectrometry Conference, Mikkeli, Finland, July 2007

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Limero.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Limero, T., Reese, E., Wallace, W.T. et al. Results from the air quality monitor (gas chromatograph-differential mobility spectrometer) experiment on board the international space station. Int. J. Ion Mobil. Spec. 15, 189–198 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12127-012-0107-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12127-012-0107-z

Keywords

Navigation