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NEWS
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NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
The lIP 200LX Powers an
Electronic Nose in Space
The HP 200LX helps perform air quality monitoring aboard the space
shuttle Discovery and aboard the International Space Station.
by Wayne Kneeskern
O
ver the past couple of years
I've read all the MUPs (Most
Unusual Place) that Palmtop
users have reported from (mountain
tops, submarines, planes, etc). In the
first article on MUPs there was the
statement: "The Ultimate MUP does
not exist!"
I may not have discovered the
"Ultimate" MUP but I may have
found the Most "Universal" Place for
a Palmtop. An HP 200LX circled the
entire globe, 340 miles overhead, for
six days.
On October 29, 1998 the space
shuttle Discovery lifted off amidst a
storm of controversy. On board the
flight was Senator John Glenn who, at
age 77, was the oldest person to journey into space. With all the media
attention given to the "elder astronaut" you may have missed the news
about the "elder Palmtop" that was
on board.
The lIP Palmtop Controls an
Electronic Nose
Along with the other payloads on
board the Discovery Mission STS-95
was an Electronic Nose (E-Nose), a
device developed jointy by Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the
California Institute of Technology
(CalTech). This device, used to monitor changes in atmospheric conditions, was controlled by an HP 200LX
Palmtop.
range of organic and inorganic molecules down to the parts-per-million
level. The objective on Discovery's
mission STS-95 was to flight-test ENose and assess its ability to monitor
changes in the Shuttle mid deck
atmosphere.
In the close confines of a spacecraft, the air that crew members
breathe is filtered and recycled
throughout the mission. Since the air
supply is limited and very difficult to
replace, the buildup of atmospheric
contaminants is a concern to crew
health. Such contaminants have been
found in the shuttle crew cabin air.
The accumulation of these potentially harmful gases poses a more serious
threat during long missions aboard a
space station or enroute to distant
bodies in the solar system.
In addressing these concerns,
spacecraft designers must also deal
with the usual size and weight restrictions placed on all spacecraft components. The challenge of maintaining air quality must be met with
small, lightweight efficient systems.
Hence the development by Jet
Propulsion Laboratory of a miniature
air quality monitoring system, called
..JPL
The HP Palmlop sure doesn'llook like a nose, bul il is.
Dan Karmon, Ph.D, from JPL, was
kind enough to write up a short technical description of the E-Nose to use
in The HP Palmtop Paper. As Project
Manager, he also talks about the
miniature
Quadrupole
Mass
Spectrometer Array (QMSA) which
they are developing. (See sidebar)
Thaddeus Computing is working
with the JPL to provide them with
the circuit boards from the 200LX
which they will be using to develop
this portable tool (QMSA) that will be
used by astronauts on the
International Space Station (ISS). The
first flight is slated for early 2001.
The E-Nose is a new, miniature
environmental monitoring instrument
that detects and identifies a wide
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wayne Kneeskern ([email protected]) is Copy Editor of The HP
Palmtop Paper and Controller at Thaddeus Computing. He lives in
Richland, Iowa with his wife, Gert. They have two married children
and 4 grandchildren who are the joy of their lives.
THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MAY I JVNE 2000 3