Advances in Space Technology: The NSBRI Technology Development Team

As evidenced from Mir and other long-duration space missions, the space environment can cause significant alterations in the human physiology that could prove dangerous for astronauts. The NASA programme to develop countermeasures for these deleterious human health effects is being carried out by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). The NSBRI has 12 research teams, ten of which are primarily physiology based, one addresses on-board medical care, and the twelfth focuses on technology development in support of the other research teams. This Technology Development (TD) Team initially supported four instrumentation developments: (1) an advanced, multiple projection, dual energy X ray absorptiometry scanning system; (2) a portable neutron spectrometer; (3) a miniature time-of-flight mass spectrometer; and (4) a cardiovascular identification system. Technical highlights of the original projects are presented along with an introduction to the five new TD Team projects being funded by the NSBRI.