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Engineering Design and Scientific Evaluation of a Novel Animal Support Module for the Mars Gravity Biosatellite.  E.S. Koksal¹, E.C. Guerra², A.M. Heafitz³, J.A. Hoffman¹, E.B. Wagner^2,5, P.L. Yang⁴ and T.R.F. Fulford-Jones¹, ¹MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, ²Payload Systems, Inc., ³MIT Edgerton Center, ⁴MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, ⁵Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA.

   The Mars Gravity Biosatellite is a student-led spacecraft development program. It will provide an artificial gravity testbed to study mammalian adaptation to partial gravity. The 5-week mission profile specifies a launch of fifteen female mice and uses both rotational and non-rotational time-delayed ground controls.

   Each Animal Support Module (ASM) is designed to house a single mouse in a Mars-equivalent 0.38-g environment. The design includes the specimen chamber and an underfloor waste collection zone, together with a suite of sensors and actuators to gather scientific data in accordance with Mars Gravity Biosatellite mission requirements. The ASM is designed to interface with separate atmospheric and thermal control systems. Once connected, the integrated systems perform all life support and animal monitoring functions necessary for the 5-week mission.

   The ASM successfully passed Critical Design Review in late 2005. Since that time, Mars Gravity researchers have been engaged in constructing and testing the module to verify engineering performance and to scientifically validate the instrumentation. We present results from a comprehensive 6-week test to demonstrate that the ASM meets requirements associated with animal care and monitoring. The experiment simulates a one-week period on the launch pad followed by 5 weeks in the standard orbital orientation. We demonstrate capabilities and limitations of the sensor systems, while confirming that the design is capable of adequately sustaining  mice for the duration of the Mars Gravity mission.

(Supported in part by NASA: SBIR Phase II Contract NNA05CP01C)