INTERNATIONAL SPACE UNIVERSITY VARIABLE GRAVITY RESEARCH FACILITY DESIGN

A manned mission to Mars will require long travel times between Earth and Mars. However, exposure to long-duration zero gravity is known to be harmful to the human body. Some of the harmful effects am loss of h eart and lung capacity, inability to stand upright, muscular weakness, and loss of bone calcium. A variable gravity research facility (VGRF) that will be placed in low Earth orbit (LEO) was designed by students of the International Space University 1989 Summer Session held in Str asbourg, France, to provide a testbed for conducting experiments in th e life and physical sciences in preparation for a mission to Mars. Thi s design exercise was unique because it addressed all aspects concerni ng a large space project. This report describes the VGRF design that w as developed by international participants specializing in the followi ng areas: the politics of international cooperation; engineering, arch itecture; in-space physiological, materials, and life science experime ntation; data communications; and business and management.