Papers by Keyword: Body Mass

Abstract: Although inception of the measurement of astronaut body mass measurement was as old as Skylab era, progress in the field has not been as expected. There are fundamental physical difficulties as well as program management issues. New mass measurement systems with the current sensor technologies should be prepared, and the new sensor system could be expanded for “Drop Tower” in space.

Abstract: In the current space program, astronaut body mass onboard spacecraft, including the International Space Station (ISS) is measured with spring-mass device. We propose a new device “Space Scale” with laser interferometry acceleration measurement and an inline force sensor with a bungee cord. This paper describes concept of Space Scale and its accuracy estimation by ground model test. Accuracy obtained in this ground test was –0.293 %, of which force sensor contributed most to error.