CONCEPT FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS FOR A LARGE RADIUS TRACK-CENTRIFUGE

CURRENT DEFENSE CENTRIFUGES FOR HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION ARE MORE THAN 25 YEARS OLD, ARE LIMITED IN THE PROFILES WHICH THEY REPRODUCE, AND INTRODUCE SIGNIFICANT SIMULATION ARTIFACT. A RANGE OF SIGNIFICANT PROFILES EXISTS WHICH CANNOT BE ADEQUATELY SIMULATED WITH CURRENT CENTRIFUGES, IMPACT FACILITIES, OR SPATIAL DISORIENTATION TRAINERS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL PROFILES WHICH COULD BE PROVIDED BY A LARGE RADIUS TRACK-CENTRIFUGE FACILITY. THE EFFORT WILL ESTABLISH THE DESIGN CONCEPT FOR SUCH A FACILITY BASED UPON AN ORIGINAL CONCEPT PREVIOUSLY ADVANCED BY THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR. MATHEMATICAL MODELS AND COMPUTER SIMULATIONS WILL BE UTILIZED TO EXPLORE THE RANGE OF PROFILES POSSIBLE USING POTENTIAL, PHYSICALLY REALIZABLE DESIGN PARAMETERS. SELECTED OPERATIONALLY RELEVANT PROFILES, OF WHICH THE ENVISIONED FACILITY WOULD BE CAPABLE, WILL BE DEFINED AND COMPARED WITH PROFILES AVAILABLE ON CURRENT FACILITIES. A SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED TO ASSESS THE CRITICALITY OF THE CHOSEN FACILITY PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS IN DEFINING THE PROFILES THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED. THE RESULT OF THE EFFORT SHOULD BE A DEFINITION OF THE BENEFITS TO BE GAINED BY PURSUING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LARGE RADIUS TRACK-CENTRIFUGE. THESE BENEFITS CAN THEN BE SUBSEQUENTLY COMPARED TO THE COSTS OF THE FACILITY SO THAT KNOWLEDGEABLE PROGRAM INITIATION DECISIONS CAN BE MADE.