The NASA Village

The NASA Village

Today in the NASA Village… Environmental Monitoring: How Clean is it?

So, the International Space Station has been operating for 16 years now. Do you wonder how clean is the air astronauts breathe or the surfaces that the astronauts touch each day? Are there hazardous levels of bacteria or other toxic components in the drinking water supply? Obviously on this (18+ year) long duration endeavor, we have to monitor the air quality, the microbial content of the air, surfaces, and water, the sound levels we are experiencing, and the radiation doses that we are being exposed to. These data are not only critical for safety of the astronauts while on board, but for long term occupational health monitoring. Future deep space explorers will benefit from lessons we are learning now. 

Needless to say, there are some specialized pieces of hardware that we have to know how to operate in order to perform this environmental monitoring. Elisca Hicks first joined NASA by working in the Education and Outreach Program. She later transitioned to the Space Medicine Training team in 2005. Elisca currently has a dual role in the Space Medicine Training Team. She is an instructor, she teaches the environmental monitoring hardware to Space Station crew members, but she also coordinates multiple medical student and doctor programs at Johnson Space Center. 

This media slide containing mold is what Elisca teaches us to use. This helps us identify if there are issues or areas that need our additional attention.

This picture shows mold found growing on a kit that was being used in an experiment. Inside the kit were tubes that contained a swab and liquid in them. The tubes were damaged (cracked lids) and they leaked, causing the mold to grow on the kit.

Here Elisca is showing me how to place the media tray in the microbial air sampler.

Consider that the lack of gravity means that dust does not collect just on the upper surfaces, but on all the surfaces. The ventilation system moves a lot of the debris to the filters, but electrostatic forces result in the potential for debris to collect pretty much anywhere. The worst air quality can be seen when the callouses of the crew members feet begin to come off about month 2. Remember, we are not using the bottoms of our feet for walking, so we actually get callouses on the tops of our toes from sliding them under handrails!

Next time on the NASA Village… You Need to Experience It.

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