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Applying a Crew Accommodations Resource Model to Future Space Vehicle ResearchThe success of research and development for human space flight depends heavily on modeling. In addition, the use of such models is especially critical at the earliest phase of research and development of any manned vehicle or habitat. NASA is currently studying various innovative and futuristic propulsion technologies to enable further exploration of space by untended as well as tended vehicles. Details such as vehicle mass, volume, shape and configuration are required variables to evaluate the success of the propulsion concepts. For tended vehicles, the impact of the crew's requirements on those parameters must be included. This is especially important on long duration missions where the crew requirements become more complex. To address these issues, a crew accommodations resource model, developed as a mission planning tool for human spaceflight (Stillwell, Boutros, & Connolly), was applied to a reference mission in order to estimate the volume and mass required to sustain a crew for a variety of long duration missions. The model, which compiled information from numerous different sources and contains various attributes which can be modified to enable comparisons across different dimensions, was instrumental in deriving volume and mass required for a tended long duration space flight. With the inclusion of some additional variables, a set of volume and mass requirements were provided to the project. If due consideration to crew requirements for volume and mass had not been entertained, the assumptions behind validation of the propulsion technology could have been found to be incorrect, possibly far into development of the technology or even into the design and build of test vehicles. The availability and use of such a model contributes significantly by increasing the accuracy of human space flight research and development activities and acts as a cost saving measure by preventing inaccurate assumptions from driving design decisions.
Document ID
20030111785
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Blume, Jennifer Linda
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2003
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: Huntsville Simulation Conference 2003 (HSC ''03)
Location: Huntsville, AL
Country: United States
Start Date: October 29, 2003
End Date: October 31, 2003
Sponsors: Society for Modeling and Simulation International
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS8-00187
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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