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past feature
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Special
Delivery
The space shuttle
Atlantis recently delivered a quadrupole
mass spectrometer to the international
space station Alpha. Officials at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California, said it was specifically
designed for use outside the space
station. It can detect ammonia, rocket
propellant, oxygen, nitrogen and water
leaks. "The instrument will promote space
flight safety for the international space
station," JPL's Dr. Ara Chutjian the
principal investigator on the project.
The quadrupole mass spectrometer array is
about 5 cm long. It's part of a
shoebox-sized system with software and
visual readout. The entire unit weighs
about 2.3 kilograms and can be carried on
an astronaut's chest pack. A small screen
shows a graph indicating any detected
gases that could pose a safety risk to the
astronauts, such as ammonia leaks from
fittings on the new U.S. built science
laboratory Destiny. Astronaut Thomas Jones
had to undergo decontamination procedures
after being sprayed by ammonia while
hooking up hoses between the science lab
and Alpha on February 10th.
According to Chutjian "JPL has developed
the smallest mass spectrometer ever
produced for either manned or robotic
spaceflight". The system was developed in
collaboration with NASA and subcontractor
Oceaneering Space Systems.
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