Recent Measurements of Experiment Sensitivity to g-jitter and Their Significance to ISS Facility Development

Abstract

Recent experimental measurements of various microgravity experiments have been taken on the Mir and Space Shuttle under conditions of microgravity having isolation, non-isolation and forced-g modes using the Microgravity-vibration Isolation Mount (MIM). The results to date show a clear difference between the experimental measurements taken during non-isolated g-levels and isolated g-levels. Importantly, for experiments to be performed on the International Space Station (ISS), it is believed that the microgravity levels of the non- isolated Mir and Space Shuttle are still better than the level given for the ISS isolation requirement curve and much better than the prediction for non-isolated racks of ISS. This raises con­cerns for those experiments being performed in experimental facilities not having isolation.