It is possible that in the next twenty years NASA may fly crew quarters on twice as many spacecraft as it has in the past fifty years. In short, US experience with spacecraft crew quarters is limited and with few available standards to guide their design there is significant uncertainty facing spacecraft currently in development, several of which are also subject to substantial mass and volume challenges. Those spacecraft developments will face considerable pressure to minimize crew quarters size, including those intended for use on the lunar surface. Given that a crew quarters is the only space a crew member can call his or her own during missions that can last weeks to years in duration, providing an appropriate volume is especially important. This is even more critical when one considers the reality that all crew quarters flown to date have been smaller than minimum standards for US jail cells. This research will categorize functional capabilities of crew quarters and explore physical and virtual prototypes of small crew quarters that have attempted to include these capabilities. The Exploration Atmospheres Test at NASA Johnson Space Center represents the first opportunity to collect multi-day test data on crew quarters of this size in a gravitational environment. Intended to validate exploration prebreathe protocols, this test will house eight people inside a vacuum chamber that has been outfitted as a habitat prototype for twelve days. In addition to their other test activity, the crew will evaluate the acceptability of their crew quarters. This data will aid in establishing design guidelines for crew quarters in both short and long duration missions beyond low Earth orbit.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Viability of Small Dimension Crew Quarters for Surface Habitation


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2021


    Size :

    12 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Viability of Small Dimension Crew Quarters for Surface Habitation

    J. Robert Lee Howard / H. L. Litaker | NTIS | 2021


    Viability of Small Dimension Crew Quarters for Surface Habitation

    Litaker, Harry L. / Howard, Robert L. | IEEE | 2022


    Viability of Small Dimension Crew Quarters for Surface Habitation

    Robert Lee Howard, Jr. / Harry Lee Litaker | NTRS



    Aircraft with crew quarters

    GALIN ALEXANDRE / FERNELEY JOHN / AHN THOMAS et al. | European Patent Office | 2023

    Free access