The Challenge
Has your time spent indoors increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of stay-at-home and shelter-in-place policies worldwide? Many people don’t know that there are not only outdoor air quality standards, but also indoor air quality standards to support human health in our homes and other buildings.
NASA astronauts are very familiar with the importance of indoor air quality in the confinement of spacecraft. The makeup of the air on the International Space Station (ISS) is taken very seriously, as it can literally make the difference between life and death. NASA has developed air filtering techniques to remove harmful particles from the air (to protect equipment from lunar dust, for example) and maintain a favorable mix of gases to ensure the wellbeing of the crew.
Your challenge is to use the ISS as inspiration and develop a system to monitor and/or purify indoor air. It is entirely up to you whether the system you design is able to be used on Earth (for example in homes, businesses, transportation, etc.) and/or in space.
Considerations
- Technology designed for spacecraft and space station use may be applicable for air quality monitoring, modeling, treatment, and filtering in cars, plants, mass transit, and buildings.