The proposed high flow, low dead-volume pre-concentrator for monitoring trace levels of contaminants in water under microgravity conditions is designed to address a key technology gap for long-duration human spaceflight, especially for human exploration of the solar system beyond low-Earth orbit to the moon, near-Earth objects such as asteroids, future space stations established at Lagrange points, and missions to Mars and its moons. We plan to incorporate this technology into a miniaturized water pre-concentrator module, designed to be directly interfaced with other spacecraft instrumentation for air monitoring, such as the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor (VCAM), currently deployed on the International Space Station. This will enable long-term monitoring of trace contaminants in both air and water using a single instrument. It may also be possible to adapt our pre-concentrator sampling system for use in non-aqueous solvents. For example, an important future NASA planetary mission application might arise for pre-concentration of trace organic compounds in the cryogenic methane-ethane lakes on Saturn's moon Titan.
Analysis of commercial instrumentation markets shows that two of the three major growth areas for analytical instrumentation are real-time analysis and environmental monitoring, with projected annual growth rates of more than 15%. Our modular design approach for the miniaturized high flow, low dead-volume pre-concentrator for monitoring trace levels of contaminants in water under microgravity conditions will help it be adapted for measurement needs in scientific and environmental monitoring applications. For example, it may be possible to adapt this technology to meet needs for miniature field portable analytical chemical instrumentation for water monitoring applications. Thus, technical developments in the proposed program could provide significant new technology for specialized environmental monitoring needs.
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