Collaboration and innovation make life on the Space Station more comfortable

The International Space Station is 80 percent completed and should be finished in another year or so. It is a really fantastic creation of a group of inventive minds.

There are many things that must be done on the International Space Station to keep it a healthy place to live and work, and to keep the astronauts in good shape. One of the things is the removal of waste. This is very important when traveling in space, where floating debris and dirt might make the living hazardous. Wastes come from a number of things — from eating, cleaning, personal hygiene and work of various kinds.

For general house cleaning, the astronauts use detergents and wet and dry vacuum cleaners to clean the surfaces of their living and working quarters and themselves. Trash is collected in a bag to be stowed on what is called a progress supply ship, and it is returned to Earth for disposal. Solid state waste from the toilets is compacted and also stored in bags before being returned to Earth, where it is usually burned. And as you know, water reclaimed from solid waste is processed and purified to supply drinking water to the astronauts in space. This process is one of the most interesting accomplishments of the builders of the space station.

Fire is one of the most dangerous and hazardous things that can occur in space, as shown by the damage by fire of the Russian Mir station. The International Space Station has a fire detection and suppression system with the following parts: area smoke detection in each module; smoke detectors in each rack of electrical equipment; alarms and warning lights set up in each module; nontoxic and portable fire extinguisher; and a personal breathing apparatus for each astronaut consisting of a mask and an oxygen bottle. If a fire starts and is extinguished, what is called the atmosphere control system will filter the air to remove toxic substances. These are very well designed devices.

Just as we have electrical power in our homes the International Space Station has methods of creating such power for itself. The source is the sun, which is aimed at by solar panels, or arrays, on the Space Station. There are eight arrays and they are very large, each being 109 feet long. They cover a total of 27,000 square feet.

The arrays generate what is called primary power, 160 volts of DC electricity. A secondary transformer converts this into a regulated 124 volt DC, which supplies the current of the space station systems. This power is also used to charge the station’s three nickel-hydrogen battery stations which provide power when the space station rotates through the Earth’s shadow and has no sunlight to produce electricity. This has been worked out very well by NASA and the Russian Space Agency.

There will be more than 100 computers on board the International Space Station by next year. Computers have become vital materials to acquire information and to deliver information. They will record progress and also pass on to the Earth important information that they learn and discover in space. They will also collect information from Earth.

An important thing is that the people in the International Space Station need to know exactly where it is in space, what else is around them and how to travel from one point in space to another one, especially during the re-boosting process. Global positioning systems supplied by both the United States and Russia help the International Space Station know just where it is and how fast it is moving. The International Space Station has gyroscopes to show which way it is pointing. All this information helps the International Space Station move properly and safely in space. In addition, the Russians provide a navigation system that sights the stars and the sun and the Earth’s horizon for proper navigation.

The space suits worn by the astronauts are improved versions of those worn on the shuttles. They are modified in various ways. Internal parts are more easily replaced. They have carbon dioxide absorption cartridges that are removable and also reusable. They have metal sizing rings that individual users can adjust and make fit. New gloves are specially supplied that have increased flexibility and dexterity. They have improved radios that can receive more channels that make it possible for more people to be able to talk at once. An International Space Station space walker will be walking in shadows at times, not in the sun.

Therefore, since it would be colder at those times, new heating systems are set up to keep the walkers comfortable. There are floodlights and spotlights at work to keep the walkers in full visibility of the space they are working in. If a space walker accidentally slips away from the Space Station, there are so-called jet-packs, which help him fly back to the station, a very important feature.

The International Space Station now has six laboratories, with an astronaut working in each one. They will be working between four and six months before returning to the planet Earth. Remember that in microgravity they will be floating around unless they attach themselves to a wall or a desk or a chair. In many cases they use Velcro to make the attachments. Their work in many scientific areas will keep them busy all the time. The results of their work will open new vistas of thinking and knowledge and action and they will surely be well pleased and happy with their work.

In exploring activities on the space shuttles, it has become known that all work and no play has resulted in cranky astronauts at times. Space shuttle missions Skylab and Mir demonstrated that effect. So crews need to have leisure time in order to be most comfortable when traveling in the air. In leisure times the astronauts play games, or they can read things, send e-mails to their friends and families, be inventors, and more. If you ask the astronauts what they would like to do, their responses are usually to look out of the windows and see the Earth and try to see what’s going on there.

Wouldn’t you like to be an astronaut on the International Space Station? I sure would!

Sidney X. Shore is a scientist, inventor and educator who lives in Sharon and holds more than 30 U.S. patents.