SAMS Status

August 21, 2009 - The SAMS acceleration system on board the International Space Station is supporting the international partners by relocating existing SAMS sensors to different ISS modules.  SAMS provided acceleration data to the JAXA researchers during May 2009 for the experiments located in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). SAMS also provided a sensor and acceleration data for the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) during March of 2009.

SAMS is a distributed system of sensors, currently on board the ISS, SAMS has two sensors located in the USLab, two sensors in the JEM,  one sensor in the COF, one sensor attached to the CIR, and one sensor in the MSG facility.

Overview

SAMS-II will measure vibrations from vehicle acceleration, systems operations, crew movements, and thermal expansion and contraction. Multiple Remote Triaxial Sensor (RTS) systems are used to monitor individual experiments requiring direct monitoring. Each RTS is capable of measuring between 0.01 Hz to beyond 300 Hz of vibration, also known as g-jitter. The RTSs consist of two components: the RTS sensor enclosure (SE) and the RTS electronics enclosure (EE). The RTS-SE, placed as close to the experiment as possible, will translate the g-jitter into a digital signal. The RTS-EEs provides power and command signals for up to 2 RTS-SEs and receives the g-jitter data from the RTS-SEs.

The RTSs are linked together by the Interim Control Unit (ICU), which coordinates the various RTS systems being used throughout the Station. Eventually, the ICU will be replaced by a full-fledged Control Unit (CU), which will allow onboard data analysis and direct feedback and will permit crew to control the measurement parameters. The main component of the ICU is a computer. Once the ICU receives the measurements from the RTS systems, it checks the data for completeness, and the computer sends the data to the SAMS-II Ground Operations Equipment at Glenn Research Center.

Related Web Sites

* Principal Investigator Microgravity Services (PIMS) Results Home Page
* NASA Glenn Research Center - SAMS
* NASA Glenn Research Center - MAMS

Contacts at NASA Glenn Research Center
Project Manager: Robert W. Hawersaat
Robert.W.Hawersaat@nasa.gov
216-433-8157