title: Monitoring space shuttle air quality using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory electronic nose.
abstract: A miniature electronic nose (ENose) has been designed and built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, and was designed to detect, identify, and quantify ten common contaminants and relative humidity changes. The sensing array includes 32 sensing films made from polymer carbon-black composites. Event identification and quantification were done using the Levenberg-Marquart nonlinear least squares method. After successful ground training, this ENose was used in a demonstration experiment aboard STS-95 (October-November, 1998), in which the ENose was operated continuously for six days and recorded the sensors' response to the air in the mid-deck. Air samples were collected daily and analyzed independently after the flight. Changes in shuttle-cabin humidity were detected and quantified by the JPL ENose; neither the ENose nor the air samples detected any of the contaminants on the target list. The device is microgravity insensitive.
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA. Margaret.A.Ryan@jpl.nasa.gov
authors.forename: Margaret Amy
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Hanying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Martin G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Buehler
authors.forename: Kenneth S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Manatt
authors.forename: Victoria S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Mowrey
authors.forename: Shannon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Adam K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kisor
authors.forename: Abhijit V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Shevade
authors.forename: Margie L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Homer
mesh_terms: D000389:Air Conditioning; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis*; D006813:Humidity; D008021:Life Support Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009622:Noise; D011108:Polymers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013026:Space Flight / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018531:Spacecraft / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014893:Weightlessness
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011108:Polymers; D002244:Carbon