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Monitoring of Microbial Loads During Long Duration Missions as a Risk Reduction ToolHumans have been exploring space for more than 40 years. For all those years microorganisms have accompanied, first un-manned spacecraft/cargo and later manned vessels. Microorganisms are everywhere on Earth, could easily adapt to new environments and/or can rapidly mutate to survive in very harsh conditions. Their presence in spacecraft and cargo have caused a few inconveniences over the years of humans spaceflight, ranging from crew health, life support systems challenges and material degradation. The sterilization of spacecraft that will host humans in long duration mission would be a costly operation that will not provide a long-term solution to the microbial colonization of the vessels. As soon as a human is exposed to the spacecraft, during the mission, microorganisms will start to populate the new environment. As the hum an presence in space increases in length, the risk from the microbial load, to hardware and crew will also increase. Mitigation of this risk includes several different strategies that will include minimizing the microbial load (in numbers and diversity) and monitoring. This presentation will provide a list of the risk mitigation strategies that should be implemented during ground processing, and during the mission. It will also discuss the areas that should be discussed before an effective in-flight microbial monitoring regimen is implemented. Microbial monitoring technologies will also be presented.
Document ID
20120001508
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Abstract
Authors
Roman, Monsi C.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
October 11, 2011
Subject Category
Aerospace Medicine
Report/Patent Number
M11-0798
Report Number: M11-0798
Meeting Information
Meeting: 5th IAASS Conference: A Safer Space for a Safer World
Location: Paris
Country: France
Start Date: October 17, 2011
End Date: October 19, 2011
Sponsors: International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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