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Since the earliest days of manned space ventures, the search for authentic analogs of space exploration have been investigated. The primary purpose for these analogs has been to reduce risk and cost. There are many similarities between operational space habitats and ocean habitats and these can be significantly exploited to provide an efficient terrestrial based model for testing space bound systems and crews. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration embarked on such a seafloor analog to the space station in 1969 called Tektite. Tektite investigated a single mission component, crew psychology. But the range of valid components is considerably wider ranging, including analogous system design, parallel operational functionality and mission compatibility.

Since activating the International Space Station's (ISS) Service Module in November 2000, archival air quality samples have shown highly variable concentrations of octafluoropropane in the cabin. This variability has been directly linked to leakage from air conditioning systems on board the Service Module, Zvezda. While octafluoropropane is not highly toxic, it presents a significant challenge to the trace contaminant control systems. A discussion of octafluoropropane concentration dynamics is presented and the ability of on board trace contaminant control systems to effectively remove octafluoropropane from the cabin atmosphere is assessed. Consideration is given to operational and logistics issues that may arise from octafluoropropane and other halocarbon challenges to the contamination control systems as well as the potential for effecting cabin air quality.

Past tests of vehicles show that their octane number requirements decrease with altitude. As a result, gasoline marketers sell lower-octane-number (ON) gasoline in the mountain states and other high-altitude areas. The current ASTM specifications, which allow reduction of gasoline octane of 1.0 to 1.5 ON per thousand feet, are based on CRC test programs run on 1967 to 1972 model vehicles. However, many new vehicles are now equipped with sophisticated electronic engine systems for control of emissions and improvement of performance and fuel economy at all altitudes. Because these new systems could minimize the altitude effect on octane requirement, Amoco Oil tested twelve 1984-1986 model cars and light trucks. We found their ON requirements were reduced on average about 0.2 ON per thousand feet on an (R+M)/2 basis (RMON/1,000 feet).

Management of human feces and wastes is a major challenge in space vehicles due to the potential biohazards and malodorous compounds emanating during collection and storage of feces and wastes. To facilitate safe, yet realistic human waste management research, we have previously developed human fecal simulants for research activities. The odoriferous compounds in feces and wastes reduce the quality of life for astronauts, can reduce performance, and can even cause health problems. The major odoriferous compounds of concern belong to four groups of chemicals, volatile fatty acids, volatile sulfurous compounds, nitrogenous compounds and phenols. This paper attempts to review the problem of odor detection and odor control with advanced technology. There has been considerable progress in odor detection and control in the animal industry and in the dental profession.

THE AUTOMATION OF DIRECT and indirect air carrier operations is essential for growth and for carriers to maintain competitiveness in a deregulated transportation environment. The automation of commercial shippers' traffic operations is necessary to dramatically reduce the overall cost for transportation of goods while improving operational efficiency and effectiveness. The matter of computerization of transportation operations should be placed on today's agenda if companies involved in transportation are to compete and maximize profits in the 1990's. The traffic manager without automation, is an obsolete traffic manager.

The differential in rentals between off- and on-airport freight facilities can be as high as 2% of gross revenues. Given this cost break, the freight forwarder located off the airport can do much to solve the air cargo bottleneck. This is a bottleneck that is rapidly increasing with the fragmentation of on-airport cargo facilities. Air carriers should now get out of the small package business forwarding all shipments of less than 200 lb to a forwarder for containerization. Shippers should be offered cost incentives to use containers.

Polymers are one of the major constituents in electrical components. A study investigating pre-combustion off-gassing and particle release by polymeric materials over a range of temperatures can provide an understanding of thermal degradation prior to failure which may result in a fire hazard. In this work, we report simultaneous measurements of pre-combustion vapor and particle release by heated polymeric materials. The polymer materials considered for the current study are silicone and Kapton. The polymer samples were heated over the range 20 to 400°C. Response to vapor releases were recorded using the JPL Electronic Nose (ENose) and Industrial Scientific's ITX gas monitor configured to detect hydrogen chloride (HCl), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Particle release was monitored using a TSI P-TRAK particle counter.

The Electron-VM Oxygen Generation System (OGS) is a main source of oxygen for crew breathing on the International Space Station (ISS) and the result of updating the Electron-V OGS that has been in successful operation for 17 years on Mir Space Station. The successful accomplishment of a manned flight program primarily has resulted in the stable operation of the system. The paper deals with analysis of off-normal situations related to the operation of the Electron-VM on board ISS. The system switching-off analysis based on the telemetry information processing and the results of the additional tests conducted under flight and ground conditions is performed. A principal cause of system switching-offs is a reduction in the pressure built by the circulating pumps due to ingress of gas bubbles into the suction pipeline. The results of the Electron-VM OGS switching-off analysis and the practical recommendations regarding its prevention are reviewed.

Trace gaseous contamination in the cabin environment is a major concern for manned spacecraft, especially those designed for long duration missions, such as the International Space Station (ISS). During the design phase, predicting the European-built Columbus laboratory module’s contribution to the ISS’s overall trace contaminant load relied on “trace gas budgeting” based on material level and assembled article tests data. In support of the Qualification Review, a final offgassing test has been performed on the complete Columbus module to gain cumulative system offgassing data. Comparison between the results of the predicted offgassing load based on the budgeted material/assembled article-level offgassing rates and the module-level offgassing test is presented. The Columbus module offgassing test results are also compared to results from similar tests conducted for Node 1, U.S. Laboratory, and Airlock modules.

The handheld (HH) electromagnetic riveter (EMR) has proven to be an effective means of installing up to 7/16\mi diameter rivets in aircraft components. These devices are currently installing rivets on Boeing and Airbus planes all over the world. They are also very popular in China and Japan. However, there have always been difficulties with stringer access. A new version of lightweight driver with interchangeable offset tooling was created to alleviate this problem. In addition, a disposable plastic wedge has been incorporated at the base of the offset ram to prevent stringer damage during the recoil.

Flex Track Drilling systems have been successfully implemented into several production environments and scenarios over the past couple of years. They continue to see a high demand where traditional machine tool implementations might be prohibitive due to cost or existing jig structures. This demand for innovation has led to a unique Flex Track design termed an Offset Flex Track that not only works between the vacuum rails, but can work beyond the envelope of the rails. This allows the machine to be used in situations such as the leading edge of wings where the vacuum rails cannot straddle the work envelope. The next evolution of this Offset machine is the introduction of final fastener installation onto the head using an onboard rivet gun. In addition, the camera used to locate datum points on the fuselage is now integrated into the nose piece, eliminating the need for a tool change to a spindle mounted camera.

The Gulf of Mexico along the Louisiana and Texas coasts, is a vast area requiring helicopter transportation for oil and gas exploration and production workers. Aviation services from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Weather Service have been minimal until recently. A new aviation network in the Gulf of Mexico has been developed and is now being imple­mented. This communications, navigation, weather, and potential surveillance system is improving the safety of flight for 36, 000 offshore workers.

Closed crankcase ventilation prevent harmful gases from entering atmosphere thereby reducing hydrocarbon emissions. Ventilation system usually carries blowby gases along with oil mist generated from Engine to Air intake system. Major sources of blowby occurs from leak in combustion chamber through piston rings, leakage from turbocharger shafts & leakage from valve guides. Oil mist carried by these blowby gases gets separated using separation media before passing to Air Intake. Fleece separation media has high separation efficiency with lower pressure loss for oil aerosol particles having size above 10 microns. However, efficiency of fleece media drops drastically if size of aerosol particles are below 10 microns. Aerosol mist of lower particle size (>10 microns) generally forms due to flash boiling on piston under crown area and from shafts of turbo charger due to high speeds combined with elevated temperatures. High power density diesel engine is taken for our study.

Minimizing engine oil consumption of modern engines has become an important issue and there is a need for better understanding associated sources and mechanisms. An innovative method based on the use of radiotracer compounds that are representative of oil distillation interval has been presented in a previous paper. This paper presents a methodology to evaluate and quantify oil consumption sources in a production turbocharged spark ignition engine at different speed and load conditions. A specific experimental set-up was used to measure independently and in real-time contribution of piston ring package, blow-by circuit, and turbocharger on oil consumption. Results show how contribution of each consumption source varies with engine operating conditions.

This paper reports the development status of the Olympus 593 engine, especially designed to satisfy the highly demanding performance qualifications of the Concorde aircraft. Design and development programs are discussed in detail and the particular objectives, present and future, are examined from the viewpoints of reliability, maintainability, and operational capability. Especially interesting are the efforts and ingenious ways applied to expedite development by safely continuing test runs of bench machines known to have mechanical defects.

This paper describes some of the work leading to the type test and certification of the world's first civil supersonic powerplant. The airlines' embodied and spare production engines average mission equivalent specific fuel consumption and the take-off thrust guarantees have been met. Some problems encountered in the first nine months of passenger service are described and the conclusion is drawn that, so far, the operation has been very satisfactory when compared with the experience of many new subsonic projects at a comparable stage in their evolution. Reliability has been high and delay rates have been low.

Most of the important technical aspects of the two prototype Concordes and of their Olympus 593 powerplants have been explored and the aeroplanes are flying regularly at Mach 2.0 over long distances. The current status of the powerplant performance, further performance development, the engine and intake control systems, the reheat and exhaust systems, engine/intake compatibility, bench and flight engine development programme, the environment and service experience, are reviewed. Convincing performance demonstrations have been made and active discussions with airlines are in hand regarding production versions of the aeroplane.