The ability to maintain the well being of experiment animals is of primary importance to the successful attainment of life sciences flight experiment goals. To assist scientists in the conduct of life sciences flight experiments, a highly versatile Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF) is being developed for use on Space Shuttle/Spacelab missions. This paper describes the design of the RAHF system, which in addition to providing general housing for various animal species, approximating the environment found in ground based facilities, is designed to minimize disturbances of the specimens by vehicle and mission operations. Life-sustaining capabilities such as metabolic support and environmental control are provided. RAHF is reusable and is a modular concept to accommodate animals of different sizes. The basic RAHF system will accommodate a combination of 24 500-g rats or 144 mice or a mixed number of rats and mice. An alternative design accommodates four squirrel monkeys. The entire RAHF system is housed in a single ESA rack. The animal cages are in drawers which are removable for easy access to the animals. Each cage contains a waste management system, a feeding system and a watering system all of which will operate in zero or one gravity.
The development of a Space Shuttle Research Animal Holding Facility
Intersociety Environmental Systems Conference ; 1980 ; San Diego, CA
1980-07-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
Characterization of Condensate from the Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF)
SAE Technical Papers | 1994
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British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994
|The Rodent Research Animal Holding Facility as a Barrier to Environmental Contamination
SAE Technical Papers | 1989
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