Results from the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor: A Miniature Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer for Trace Contamination Monitoring on the ISS and Orion

Chutjian, A.; Darrach, M. R.; Bornstein, B.; Croonquist, A. P.; Edgu-Fry, E.; Fry, D.; Garkanian, V.; Girard, M. A.; Haemmerle, V.; Heinrichs, W. M.; Kidd, Richard; Lee, S.; MacAskill, J. A.; Madzunkov, S.; Mandrake, Lukas; Rust, Thomas; Schaefer, R. T.; Thomas, J. L.; Toomarian, N.; Walch, Marc; Christensen, Mogens; Dawson, A.; Demonbrun, D.; Vanholden, R.; Holland, Paul M.; Shortt, Brian

doi:10.4271/2008-01-2045

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A description of the VCAM GC/MS approach was presented earlier. [8][9][10][11][12] The results presented here summarize VCAM's analytical performance during over 20 months of operation as both a trace-gas and major atmospheric constituents analyzer aboard the ISS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Trace Chemical and Major Constituents Measurements of the International Space Station Atmosphere by the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor

Darrach

Chutjian

Bornstein

et al. 2012

42nd International Conference on Environmental Systems

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Trace Chemical and Major Constituents Measurements of the International Space Station Atmosphere by the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor

Darrach

Chutjian

Bornstein

et al. 2012

42nd International Conference on Environmental Systems

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…A description of the VCAM GC/MS approach was presented earlier. [8][9][10] The results presented here summarize VCAM's analytical performance during its first year of operation as both a trace-gas and major atmospheric constituents analyzer aboard the ISS. Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

On-Orbit Measurements of the ISS Atmosphere by the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor

Darrach

Chutjian

Bornstein

et al. 2011

41st International Conference on Environmental Systems

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We report on trace gas and major atmospheric constituents results obtained by the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor (VCAM) during operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS). VCAM is an autonomous environmental monitor based on a miniature gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer. It was flown to the ISS on shuttle mission STS-131 and commenced operations on 6/10/10. VCAM provides measurements of ppb-to-ppm levels of volatile trace-gas constituents, and of the atmospheric major constituents (nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide) in a space vehicle or station. It is designed to operate autonomously and maintenance-free, approximately once per day, with a self-contained gas supply sufficient for a one-year lifetime. VCAM is designed to detect and identify 90% of the target compounds at their 180-day Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration levels.

show abstract

“…For example, the Volatile Organic Analyzer, launched in 2001, an ion mobility spectrometer coupled to a gas chromatograph, successfully measured volatile organic content (VOC) on the International Space Station (ISS) Limero et al (2003), Limero and James (2007) for 8 years. At the same time, the Vehicle Cabin Air Monitor (VCAM) Chutjian et al (2007Chutjian et al ( , 2008, developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), utilized a miniature Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (QITMS) to allow for continuous cabin air major constituents analysis in addition to a VOC measurement performed once a day. Recent state-of-the-art upgrades to VCAM are currently undergoing technological demonstration onboard the International Space Station as the Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor Madzunkov et al (2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer for Ice Giant Atmospheres Exploration

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To date, a variety of different types of mass spectrometers have been utilized on missions to study the composition of atmospheres of solar system bodies, including Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Titan, the moon, and several comets. With the increasing interest in future small probe missions, mass spectrometers need to become even more versatile, lightweight, compact, and sensitive.For in situ exploration of ice giant atmospheres, the highest priority composition measurements are helium and the other noble gases, noble gas isotopes, including 3He/4He, and other key isotopes like D/H. Other important but lower priority composition measurements include abundances of volatiles C, N, S, and P; isotopes 13C/12C, 15N/14N, 18O/17O/16O; and disequilibrium species PH3, CO, AsH3, GeH4, and SiH4. Required measurement accuracies are largely defined by the accuracies achieved by the Galileo (Jupiter) probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer and Helium Abundance Detectors, and current measurement accuracies of solar abundances.An inherent challenge of planetary entry probe mass spectrometers is the introduction of material to be sampled (gas, solid, or liquid) into the instrument interior, which operates at a vacuum level. Atmospheric entry probe mass spectrometers typically require a specially designed sample inlet system, which ideally provides highly choked, nearly constant mass-flow intake over a large range of ambient pressures. An ice giant descent probe would have to operate for 1-2 hours over a range of atmospheric pressures, possibly covering 2 or more orders of magnitude, from the tropopause near 100 mbar to at least 10 bars, in an atmospheric layer of depth beneath the tropopause of about 120 km at Neptune and about 150 km at Uranus.The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (QITMS) is being developed to achieve all of these requirements. A compact, wireless instrument with a mass of only 7.5 kg, and a volume of 7 liters (7U), the JPL QITMS is currently the smallest flight mass spectrometer available for possible use on planetary descent probes as well as small bodies, including comet landers and surface sample return missions. The QITMS is capable of making measurements of all required constituents in the mass range of 1–600 atomic mass units (u) at a typical speed of 50 mass spectra per second, with a sensitivity of up to $10^{13}$ 10 13 counts/mbar/sec and mass resolution of $m/\Delta m=18000$ m / Δ m = 18000 at m/q = 40. (Throughout this paper we use the unit of m/q = u/e for the mass-to-charge ratio, where atomic mass unit and elementary charge are $1~\text{u} = 1.66\times 10^{-27}~\text{kg}$ 1 u = 1.66 × 10 − 27 kg and $1\text{e} = 1.6\times 10^{-19}$ 1 e = 1.6 × 10 − 19 C, respectively.) The QITMS features a novel MEMS-based inlet system driven by a piezoelectric actuator that continuously regulates gas flow at inlet pressures of up to 100 bar.In this paper, we present an overview of the QITMS capabilities, including instrument design and characteristics of the inlet system, as well as the most recent results from laboratory measurements in different modes of operation, especially suitable for ice giant atmospheres exploration.

show abstract

Results from the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor: A Miniature Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer for Trace Contamination Monitoring on the ISS and Orion

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

Trace Chemical and Major Constituents Measurements of the International Space Station Atmosphere by the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor

Trace Chemical and Major Constituents Measurements of the International Space Station Atmosphere by the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor

On-Orbit Measurements of the ISS Atmosphere by the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor

Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer for Ice Giant Atmospheres Exploration

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About