Getting Familiar with NASA's Life Sciences Glovebox

On August 29, 2022, our group took an initial tour of NASA with a focus on NASA's Life Sciences Glovebox or LSG for short. The LSG is housed on the International Space Station and is used for data collection on the grounds of biology. Our main focus of this tour was to understand the shortcomings of the LSG and what can possibly be improved.

Joseph Parani, a NASA engineer that instructs for the LSG, introduced us to the device. He explained its purpose on the ISS and showed us key features like the two main arm openings.

It was time to start diving into the problems of the LSG, namely with the nitrile glove paired with a sleeve that secures to the main arm openings. He explained how astronauts with small arms/wrists experience difficulty using the LSG due to the gloves only being available in three sizes (small, medium, and large) and therefore creating slack at the ends of the glove. The loose gloves make precise work in the LSG a challenge. Mr. Parani had our team member Saloni try on a size small glove paired with a size small sleeve. She experienced the slack in the assembly first hand.

To tighten the gloves, NASA currently uses the tape pictured below to create tension in the glove and sleeve. The tape also serves as an airtight seal, maintaining the LSG's slight vacuum. Astronauts in the ISS must be able to quickly abort any task at hand and get to safety in the event of emergencies like Ammonia leaks. The current procedure to abort tasks in the LSG is to rip your hands out of the gloves to get to safety. The gloves used currently can easily be replaced; however, the sleeves are quite hard to restore, which makes ripping the gloves during emergencies not optimal nor efficient. This does not sit well with Mr. Parani and as outsiders to the problem, it does not sit well with us either.

Our goal for our Capstone project is to address this safety issue in the LSG while also prioritizing the user of the solution. Our solution will likely come in the form of a fastening device that is able to keep tension on the glove and sleeve assembly while also featuring a quick release. This quick release will allow for fast and efficient evacuations of the LSG.

As we develop a solution for the LSG's sizing issue, we also have to keep in mind the restrictions of the design changes. It was mentioned by Mr. Parani that the LSG cannot use Velcro or magnets in the box, as Velcro releases particles that would likely contaminate the research specimens, and magnets would get in the way of the user, as the some of the tools that are currently being attached to the walls of the LSG are mounted by magnets. It is almost certain that there are going to be more restrictions than those two, so there are plans to discuss with another engineer that is also familiar with the LSG for information on said restrictions, and possibly more problems that the LSG may run into.

One of the major challenges that we are facing when finalizing our problem is the possibility of other solutions that are already being created by NASA engineers themselves. The LSG glove project has been in the works at NASA and there's a possibility that they already have a solution for this problem. Our major challenge here is how can we build a more preferable solution in regards to its design features, safety, manufacturing, cost, and overall performance efficiency compared to the other solutions that are already in the works at NASA.