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NASA tests lunar breathing system

Published: May 8, 2008 at 11:59 AM
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This undated NASA images shows a mock-up of the Orion space capsule as it heads to its temporary home in a hangar at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In late 2008, the full-size structural model will be jettisoned off a simulated launch pad at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to test the spacecraft's astronaut escape system, which will ensure a safe, reliable method of escape for astronauts in case of an emergency. NASA's Constellation program is building the Orion crew vehicle to carry humans to the International Space Station by 2015 and to the moon beginning in 2020. (UPI Photo/Sean Smith/NASA) | Enlarge

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HOUSTON, May 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says one of the first tests involving human subjects in support of its return-to-the-moon Orion Project has been completed.

For three weeks, 23 volunteers were subjected to tests lasting from a few hours to overnight in a small test chamber at the Johnson Space Center in Houston while scientists measured the amount of carbon dioxide and moisture absorbed by a new system -- the Carbon-dioxide and Moisture Removal Amine Swing-bed, or CAMRAS, system.

Officials said the tests, which took place April 14-May 1, are some of the first to use human subjects in support of NASA's Orion crew capsule, the Altair lunar lander and lunar rovers.

The program is investigating technologies that will help sustain life on exploration vehicles and reduce the dependence on resupply from Earth.

"The air smelled a little artificial, like on a plane, and it was a little crowded," said Aaron Hetherington, one of the volunteers and a director for the test. "But the air was fine; the temperature comfortable. My biggest observation is that it was unremarkable, which is good because that means the hardware was working."

Two additional phases of testing on CAMRAS are planned.

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