International Space Station Aerosol Sampling Experiment: Explore and Plot Microscopy Analysis Results

A useful tool for plotting components of individual particles by elemental composition, morphology, sampling location, etc.

Aerosol Sampling Experiment

Show More
Show Less

The International Space Station ( ISS ) is a unique indoor environment that serves as both home and workplace for crewmembers, and has some aerosol sources in common with buildings on Earth, but can be considered an isolated volume of air with only internally generated aerosols from occupants, their activities and ISS infrastructure. On Earth, our air quality is improved by gravitational settling. In a spacecraft microgravity environment, all particles remain airborne until they land on surfaces, air intakes or filter faces. The Aerosol Sampling Experiment collected airborne particles on two types of samplers, which were returned to Earth for subsequent analysis. This body of data is from ~6500 particles or particle components from the 2016 Passive Aerosol Samplers, which were placed in different modules in the ISS. The sampling substrates were analyzed with high-resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) using backscattered-electron detectors and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Further analysis by computer-controlled microscopy provided elemental composition and morphology of individual particles and components of particles. This interactive tool allows you to explore and plot sampled particles by particle classes (elemental composition), morphology and ISS location.



Payload Composition Comparison

Figure: Comparison of data from the 2016 and 2018 payloads including all particles in the ISS Aerosol Sampling experiments. The weight percentage of each particle class (out of 100% for sample set) is plotted, with the ten most abundant particle classes shown in the inset

International Space Station (ISS) Location Info

Figure: Sampling locations (in red) for the Aerosol Sampling Experiment on ISS

Table: Sampling locations of the Aerosol Sampling Experiment deployment on ISS

Plot Details

Facet: Allows multiple panes of plots (rows, columns)

Boxplot: Box>> 25th-75th Percentile, Horizontal line>> Median,Vertical lines>> Outliers.

Density: Computes and draws kernel density estimate>> 'Smoothed histogram'.

Mean + Errorbar: Dot>> Mean value, Errorbar>> Confidence Interval, default is 95%.

Histogram: Distribution of a single variable by bins.

Scatter: Displays the relationship between two variables.

App info

This application was created by Meytar Sorek-Hamer and Irina Hallinan under the guidance of Marit Meyer, using the ggplot_shiny original code in R created by Gert Stulp . Please report bugs and send feature requests to msorekhamer@usra.edu .

This application was built in R version 4.2.0, and uses the following packages: ggplot2 , Shiny , stringr , plotly , haven , and RColorBrewer .

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by NASA Life Support Systems Project in the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Division within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD). Thanks to RJLee Group who conducted all microscopy analysis.

Abbreviations

Figure: App abbreviations

Podcasts

Dust Bunnies in Space

Dr. Kristin Bunker and Dr. Marit Meyer

July 23, 2021

Solutions for NanoAnalysis Podcast (Episode 4)

Presentations

Database for Aerosols on the International Space Station

Dr. Marit Meyer, Dr. Meytar Sorek-Hamer

October 2019

37th Annual American Association for Aerosol Research Conference

Publications

Aerosol Sampling Experiment on the International Space Station

Marit E. Meyer

July 16, 2017

47th International Conference on Environmental Systems

Results of the Aerosol Sampling Experiment on the International Space Station

Marit E. Meyer

July 8, 2018

48th International Conference on Environmental Systems

Further Characterization of Aerosols Sampled on the International Space Station

Marit E. Meyer

July 8, 2019

49th International Conference on Environmental Systems

Developing a Spacecraft Air Quality Index for Future Missions

Marit E. Meyer, Meytar Sorek-Hamer

December 15, 2020

New Space (Vol 8, No 4)

Fate of Silver Biocide on the International Space Station Living Environment

Sarah E. Ley, Wenyan Li, Amanda J. Rodell, Luz M. Calle, Marit E. Meyer, Traci Lersch, Kristin Bunker

July 12, 2021

50th International Conference on Environmental Systems

Demonstration of the International Space Station Particle Database Website (Final Draft)

Nathalie Tuya, Wenyan Li, Luz M. Calle, Marit E. Meyer, Meytar Sorek-Hamer, Irina Hallinan

July 2022

51st International Conference on Environmental Systems

Presence of Metal Aerosols on the International Space Station (Final Draft)

Amanda J. Rodell, Wenyan Li, Luz M. Calle, Marit E. Meyer

July 2022

51st International Conference on Environmental Systems

The ISS Aerosol Sampling Experiment and this interactive site is sponsored by the NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Life Support Systems Project.

If you use this site or plots generated on this site for your work, please cite as follows:

International Space Station Aerosol Sampling Experiment Database of Particles and Particle Components by Meyer, M.E., Sorek-Hamer, M., Hallinan, I.P.; NASA Advanced Exploration Systems Life Support Systems Project. https://iss-particle-db.arc.nasa.gov

NASA Web Privacy Policy