|
 |
ALTEA
- Anomalous Long Term Effects on Astronauts
|
 |
|
ALTEA was developed to meet the need of the Italian scientific community to conduct experiments on board the ISS to monitor electrophysiological activity in the human central nervous system in conditions of microgravity during prolonged periods in space, and to assess the potential functional damage caused by ionising radiation.
For the purposes of monitoring experimental data from ALTEA, providing operational support to NASA control centres and the crew during manned activities, and carrying out real-time analysis of the scientific data generated on board the ISS, Telespazio has built dedicated ground infrastructure that can receive data and video content from the ISS in real time via a connection with NASA control centres, as well as enable voice contact with NASA control centres in order to co-ordinate on-board operations and provide other support activities. This infrastructure, which is identifiable by the acronym ALTEA-USOC, acts as a “gateway” for ALTEA’s operations on board the ISS, and represents the logical and physical interface between the ISS and the user home base (UHB) where the scientist conducting the experiment (the Principal Investigator or PI) is based.
ALTEA-USOC houses a purpose-built system to receive, process and transmit scientific and ancillary telemetry data as well as video content from the experiment to the user home base.
|
Telespazio was involved in building the system at the ALTEA-UHB to receive experimental telemetry data and video content in real time from the USOC, as well as non-real-time data from the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC).
ALTEA-USOC ensures the availability of scientific resources for the experiment by the PI, who can receive experimental telemetry data directly at the home base and process it in real time; he can also take part in the ground operations during manned sessions of the experiment on board the ISS via a connection with USOC and the NASA centres. In addition to ensuring the supply of operational services during the experimental phases, ALTEA-USOC also provides support to the scientist during the preparation, test and simulation phases prior to the execution of the experiment proper.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
