Results of the Air Quality Monitor's Experiment to Measure Volatile Organic Compounds aboard the International Space Station

摘要

The Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA) provided 9 years of information on the trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere of the International Space Station (ISS), but it was decommissioned in August 2009. The NASA's Toxicology Laboratory at Johnson Space Center and others have been evaluating technologies to replace the VOA for several years. One system investigated by the NASA's Toxicology Laboratory was Sionex's microAnalyzer™ (later designated the Air Quality Monitor-AQM), whose small size demanded attention. Early versions of the microAnalyzer™ were thoroughly tested and the results showed great promise for it to meet or exceed the performance of the VOA. Two AQMs were prepared as a station detailed test objective (SDTO) and flown to ISS aboard the Space Shuttle in March 2009. The purpose of the SDTO was to evaluate the AQM performance, in the intended operational environment, as a replacement for the VOA. This paper will present a brief overview of the AQM technology (gas chromatography/differential mobility spectrometry) and briefly discuss the flight preparation of the AQM for the SDTO. The major portion of the paper will be devoted to on-orbit results and comparison of data from simultaneously acquired AQM runs and archival samples.