Microgravity research and user support in the Space Station era: The Microgravity User Support Centre

Acta Astronautica Vol. 17, No. 11/12, pp. 1161-1168, 1988

0094-5765/88 $3.00+0.00

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MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH A N D USER SUPPORT IN THE SPACE STATION ERA: THE MICROGRAVITY USER SUPPORT CENTREt K. WITTMANN,H. P. SCHMIDTand B. FEUERBACHER DFVLR, 5000 K61n-Wahn, F.R.G. (Received 15 June 1988)

Abstract--Future space systems, such as Columbus, the planned European contribution to the International Space Station, offer ample possibilities for microgravity research and application. These new opportunities require adequate user support on ground and novel operational concepts in order to ensure an effective utilization. Extensive experience in microgravity user support has been accumulated at DFVLR during the past Spacelab 1 and D1 missions. Based on this work, a Microgravity User Support Centre (MUSC) has been built and is active for the forthcoming EURECA-A1 and D2 missions, to form an integrated support centre for the disciplineslife sciencesand material sciences in the Space Station era. The objective of the user support at MUSC is to achieve: easy accesss to space experiments for scientific and commercial users, efficient preparation of experiments, optimum use of valuable microgravity experimentation time, cost reduction by concentration of experience. This is implemented by embedding the MUSC in an active scientificenvironment in both disciplines,such that users can share the experiencegained by professional personnel. In this way, the Space Station system is operated along the lines established on ground for the utilization of large international research facilities, such as accelerators or astronomical observatories. In addition, concepts are developed to apply advanced telescience principles for Space Station operations.

1. INTRODUCTION The utilization of the Space Station will be different from past space flight activities in essential points. Preparation, actual operation and evaluation of experiments will no longer be sequential but in parallel. Practically unlimited experiment time in space will allow iterative scientific investigations. After a quick and preliminary evaluation of results, the experiment procedure can be optimized with the help of engineering ground facility data and then repeated in space with modified parameters. These new opportunities require adequate user support and novel operational concepts. Therefore three institutes at DFVLR in K61n, Germany, F.R.G., namely the Institute for Aerospace Medicine, the Institute for Space Simulation and the Institute for Materials Research, participated in the formation of a Microgravity User Support Centre (MUSC). It supports space users from universities and industry during planning, preparation, operation and evaluation of microgravity experiments in the disciplines of Materials Sciences, Biology and Medicine. The future organizational structure (after reaching a critical size) of MUSC is shown in Fig. 1. MUSC will be repre#Paper IAF-87-390 presented at the 38th Congress o f the International Astronautical Federation, Brighton, U.K., 10-17 October 1987.

sented to the outside world by the central user area, including the functions of MUSC-Management, user information and flight experiment operations programme. Imbedded in MATLAB and BIOLAB, centres for microgravity research in the disciplines materials and life sciences, user support for experiment preparation and evaluation will be offered in the experiment preparation programme and the scientific support programme. The functions of MUSC for user support are described in some details in the following section. The objective of user support at MUSC is to ensure easy access to space experiments for scientific and commercial users, efficient preparation of experiments and optimum use of valuable microgravity experimentation time as well as cost reduction by concentration of experience. 2. MUSC FUNCTIONS Functions of an integrated user support have been implemented at MUSC which closely link scientific and technical tasks for support of experiment preparation and evaluation with operational tasks to support experiment performance during the mission. This combination of the various functions for user support, namely user information, experiment operations programme and a scientific support programme, is a precondition for efficient experi-

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K. W[TTMANN et al.

MUSC

MUSC central user

area

MUSC management - user information - flight experiment operations p r o g r a m m e -

experiment preparation p r o g r a m m e (mat. sci.)

,¢~

experiment preparation p r o g r a m m e (life sci.)

O ~=~ scientific support

scientific support p r o g r a m m e (life sci)

programme (mat. sci.)

o w n

own

microgravity

~t.

research (mat. sci.) .."

microgravity research (life sci,)

...

Fig. 1. MUSC organizational structure.

mentation in the planned multi-user experiment facilities of the Space Station. 2. I. User information

The activities within the MUSC user information area include user guidance and user seminars, microgravity library and information system A R I A D N E . User guidance includes assistance in all questions concerning space experiments as well as general support like secretarial functions, communication facilities and catering. The function of the user seminar is to familiarize new users of MUSC with the technique of micro-

I A dam bank b a ~ d s y s t e m f o r

/toUrs." U ~ r odented so/~/ire Support o f opem6onal tasks Facil6~ d a ~ /nfonnztfons o f u - # h~rary Database o f r e f ~ r e n ~ data Nehvork inte#raUon ro o ~ e r dotabases

gravity experimentation and MUSC facilities (e.g. First Summer School of Microgravity, held July 1987)[2]. The microgravity library provides scientific microgravity literature and technical documents describing orbit and ground facilities for ready access to the user. The microgravity library will be linked to the information system of MUSC (ARIADNE, see below) and to external literature and data bases. Ariadne (see Fig. 2) is an information system, using database techniques. It supports space experiment planning, real-time performance and evaluation. It provides flight and reference data acquired during

Infonna/~r/System i

A R /

rchiving oal- #'me aquisition nformation na(ysis

O

istn'buo'on otdsm~om

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xperiments

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Fig. 2. Information system ARIADNE.

Microgravity user support centre

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mentation available to microgravity researchers. This means, a single facility will be shared by a group of investigators with different scientific goals, procedures and samples. Tests are necessary for the adaption of the experiments to the facility. As there is no access to the flight facility for experiment preparation purposes, complex ground equipment is necessary to master the numerous technical tasks during the experiment life cycle. This is accomplished using ground versions of the payload elements containing engineering models of the flight facilities, supplied by the flight facility manufactures (Fig. 3). These ground facilities are operated at M U S C within the experiment support programme. The main tasks of this programme during the experiment life cycles are listed in Table 1.

2.3. Flight experiment operations programme

Fig. 3. Ground version of the Material Science Double Rack, a Spacelab payload element.

the course of the ground support programmes for payload elements for materials and life science[3]. A R I A D N E will become an important component for an interactive operation of space experiments by telescience. Using commonly accepted industrial software standards, hardware independence is achieved, which guarantees portability and compatibility with future requirements.

2.2. Experiment preparation programme In the Space Station environment multi-purpose experiment facilities will form the bulk of the instru-

M U S C services will include all functions of an User Operations Centre (UOC) which is defined by ESA to be the user interface to Space Station operations. The link between the user on Earth and his experiment in space is maintained through the experiment control room (see Fig. 4). Here, voice transmission, access to experiment data and video images from the Space Station will enable the user to follow the current progress of his experiment. Any changes necessary will be initiated via the communication links of the User Centre to the astronauts or directly to the experiment facility. The experiment control room will be linked to the Space Station via the Payload Operations Control Centre (POCC). M U S C will offer the following services: planning of experiment activities, experiment supervision and control, data and information distribution to external users, interactive experiment operation for optimization, possibly in near real-time, failure analysis and trouble shooting. M U S C flight operations are based on the Telescience concept (refer to Fig. 5). This concept was

Table 1. Tasks of experiment preparation programme Purpose Developmentof experimentprocedure and optimizationof process parameters Support of sample development Verification of operational procedure and parameters Experiment verificationtest Determination of actual resource requirements Qualification of experiment hardware (samples) Sample qualificationtest Properties to be checked long term leakage thermal characteristics after vibration resistance against overheating Check of the behaviour of the sample material within the facility hardware Compatibility test Investigationof long time stability of sample materials Experiment dedicated astronaut training Hands on training at realistic hardware (in cooperation with crew training centre) Rerun of the spaceborne scientific experiments under 1-g conditions I-g Reference test to establish gravity influence to obtain referencesamples for testing the flight sample evaluationprocedure Activity Experiment development test

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Fig. 4. Experiment control room for EURECA-AI.

developed by Banks[l], who also coined the name "Telescience", which he defines as "the integration of telepresence and teleoperations in the operating environment of scientific research activities". Telescience c:ombines the experience of unmanned spaceflight, mainly concentrated in classical space research, with that of recent Spacelab flights and the practice of ground based experiment operations in hot laboratories such as found in accelerators or research reactors

[5]. 2.4. Scientffic support programme

The MUSC philosophy is based on scientific cooperation between users and scientists at the User Centre, who can share their experience from earlier microgravity experiments. Three research institutes participate in MUSC, covering selected expertise in the materials science and life science area of microgravity experimentation. These institutes perform their own microgravity experiments, where material science aspects are integrated into MATLAB (refer to Table 2 and Table 3) and life science and biological aspects are integrated into BIOLAB (refer to Table 4 and Table 5). The aim of the scientific support programme is to make available the scientific and technical infrastructure of MATLAB and BIOLAB to investigators supported by the MUSC. The investigators using this scientific/technical infrastructure are supported by scientists and engineers who have experience gained from their own

#g-experiments. The scientific and technical infrastructure of MUSC may be utilized for: quick-look analysis during the mission with respect to sample characterization and diagnosis digital evaluation of flight and reference experiments; Preparation and realization of reference experiments with samples and test subjects; operation of pilot facilities: operation of large-scale analytical equipment to which the user has limited or no access at his home institution; time critical technical rework of samples or equipment; access to mechanical and electronic workshops. 3. MUSC STATUS AND FUTUREGROWTH The following is a brief overview on the present status of MUSC and its growth capability. 3.1. M U S C present status

Support programmes for experiment preparation have been started as early as 1979 for the first flight of the Materials Sciences Double Rack during SL-I. The following facilities have been created by the institutes cooperating in MUSC since then: Laboratories with ground units of microgravity payload elements and dedicated infrastructure for:

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Microgravity user support centre

Telescience

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Fig. 5. Telescience concept.

Material Science Double Rack (MSDR) MEDEA Holographic Interferometer (HOLOP) Anthrorack (planned for D2) Biowissenschaften (planned for D2) Eureca-Al core payload Experiment control room for EURECA Scientific/technical infrastructure of Institute for Aerospace Medicine Institute for Space Simulation Institute for Materials Research ARIADNE information system (pilot project for D2) within MUSC. A team of 22 scientists and engineers is allocated to user support programmes for Spacelab and Eureca. Based on the experience acquired in user support for Spacelab (SL1, DI, D2) and Eureca (Eureca-A1) and building on the available facilities, DFVLR plans to extend the scope of the Microgravity User Support Centre to meet the requirements of the Space Station era.

In a concept study (Phase A, 1985) the overall planning of the MUSC extention for the Space Station era has been performed. In this phase many good ideas of the experienced European migrogravity users could be implemented into the MUSC concept. The assessment of preliminary information on the Space Station system, payloads and operational concepts established the boundary conditions for planning. The detailed planning of the MUSC extention for the Space Station era in a definition study (Phase B) was completed in September 1986. Valuable comments by scientific and commercial users, representatives from BMFT and ESA, Space Station systems, payloads and operations engineers, DFVLR project management and technical staff could be implemented. National Fund have been made available to extend the MUSC as planned. Items of the investment are overviewed in Table 6. The MUSC extention project, planned for the time frame 1987-1993, proceeds according to the schedule shown in Fig. 6.

Application

Scientific topic

Technical system

Activity

Space simulation

Institute

Optical diagnostics Holographic interferometry Phase separation in one- and multi-component systems Space simulation

Ill B IV VI V VII Apr. Apr. Apr. Apr. Nov. July May Nov.

Dec. Nov. Apr. Apr. 1981 1982 1982 1983 1982 1983 1985 1985

1977 1978 1980 1981

Containerless processing of a metalic sphere Holographical-optical lab Transport of bubbles by chemical waves Temperature and time dependence of surface tension Phase separation at the critical point Separation of fluid phases and dynamic of bubbles

Stability of metalic dispersions

Dispersion composites

Directional solidification of Ge-Ga single crystals

Stability of dispersions

Investigations of stability of heterogenous compounds

Apollo 16 Apollo 17 ASTP FSLP LDEF D-1

Gravitational biology

Animal cell developmental physiology

Clinostat

x

Physiology/Medicine

x

x

Gravitational biology

x

× x x x × x

Radiation biology

x

×

Planetary contamination protection Radiation protection

Exobiology

Photobiology and biochemistry in space Cosmic radiation: dosimetry biologic effects

Exobiology

in

Space simulation chambers

Radiation biology

materials

(Accelerators)

Table 5. Flown space experiments of the Institutes of Aerospace Medicine

Immersion, lower body negative pressure head down tilt centrifuge Human adaption: Cardiovascular syst. metabolism biologic rhythms behaviour Astronaut's health and performance

Space medicine and psychology

Table 4. Microgravity research in the frame of B1OLAB (Institute for Aerospace Medicine)

TEXUS X D1

TEXUS TEXUS TEXUS TEXUS TEXUS MAUS

TEXUS I TEXUS I1 TEXUS III A

doping

Crystal growth Bridgman growth Distribution of semiconductors Materials research

Table 3. Flown space experiments of the Institutes of Space Simulation and Materials Research

Electromagnetic positioning Undercooling of metals, nucleation

Containerless processing

Technical system Scientific topic

Activity

Table 2. Microgravity research in the frame of MATLAB

> Z z

,-4

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Table 6. Overview on planned its to extend MUSC for the Space Station era Items

Category

MUSC (central building) including Information area User operation rooms Area for A R I A D N E information system Offices for staff and users MUSC specific extensions in the institutes of Aerospace Medicine and Space Simulation

Buildings

Laboratories for facility engineering models and additional scientific/technical infrastructure Offices for staff and users

Extension of available scientific/technical infrastructure Building of payload element ground models

Equipment

External contracts and consumable items

Experiment control room infrastructure Information area infrastructure Data bank infrastructure (ARIADNE) General equipment (tools, measurement devices, furniture etc.) Planning support (investment planning, building etc.) Software development Literature research and procurement (MUSC #g library) Consumable materials and minor parts

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

existin~ pro(~rammes MUSC services for Spacelab D-Z IgUSC services for E u r e c a - A l

1992

1

buildings MUSC c e n t r a l u s e r area

E u r e c a , D2

,--4

Space Station

,

i

MUSC c e n t r a l u s e r a r e a

!

Eureca m

Space S~atiop "---'---I

I

I

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I I I I I I I I

Eur. i

D2

T T

'1 ,I ,I

I I I

s c i e n t i f l c / t e c h n i c a l user support

ground support programme

1994

extension

u s e r i n f o r m a t i o n (installations) e x p e r i m e n t control r o o m s ARIADNE i n f o r m a t i o n s y s t e m

,

~

institue e x t e n s i o n s

1993

I

Space Station

,I

I I

'V MUSC r e a d y for p r e m i s s i o n test p h a s e

Fig. 6. Schedule for MUSC extension.

4. CONCLUSIONS

A common understanding is evolving within the User Community and ESA concerning the user interface to the Space Station. The ESA concept defines decentralized User Support Centres (USC) and User Operations Centres (UOC). The Microgravity User Support Centre (MUSC) combines the functions of both and thus offers integrated support during the entire life cycle of microgravity experiments in the disciplines of materials and life sciences. Two preconditions must be fulfilled for successful work of a combined user support and operations centre and its acception by the user community. First, support personnel must have sufficient scientific background. This is achieved, if the support team has experience from similar experiments of its own.

Second, the team has to provide the necessary technical expertise to handle the complex systems common in space experimentation. MUSC meets both preconditions, as it is imbedded in the scientific environment of MATLAB and BIOLAB, laboratories for microgravity research in the disciplines materials and life sciences. In addition the team provides technical expertise, which has been gained in previous flight hardware and software development. Thus, the implementation of MUSC will permit the Space Station to be operated similar to large terrestrial international research facilities, such as accelerators or astronomical observatories. The concepts are developed to apply advanced telescience principles for Space Station operations.

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K. WITTMANN et al. REFERENCES

1. P. M. Banks, Telescience. Presentation to the SSUP, Stockholm (1985). 2. G. Otto (Ed.)Vortragskurzfassung der l. Sommerschule Mikrogravitation. DFVLR, IB-333-87/2 (1987). 3. D. Padeken and M. Schuber, First application of ARIADNE for human physiology on D-2. 33rd Euro-

pean Symposium on Life Science Research in Space, Graz (1987). 4. H. P. Schmidt and K. Wittmann, Microgravity User Support Centre for EURECA-1. Z F W 10, 6-12 (1986). 5. H. P. Schmidt, B. Feuerbacher and E. Messerschmid, Telescience: a concept for scientific operations in space. Z F W 11, 71 77 (1987).