Sammendrag
The ANITA2 (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air) instrument is a trace gas analyser designed to operate onboard the ISS to monitor the cabin atmosphere. ANITA2 can detect more than 35 of the most important trace gases in parallel. The advantages of an ANITA-type instrument include high sensitivity, accuracy, precision, and time resolution of the measurement data, as well as no consumption except electrical power and no production of waste. This also makes ANITA a steppingstone into the future, as a precursor system for crewed stations, bases, and exploration missions, including the (Deep-Space) Gateway and to/on the Moon and Mars. ANITA-2 has been built in a contract between ESA, OHB and SINTEF, launched to the ISS in December 2021 and commissioned in Q1 of 2022. Since then ANITA-2 is monitoring the ISS gas environment on board the ISS. This paper shows the final flight hardware, describes the accommodation on board the ISS and discusses the performance of the Payload on board the ISS compared to a Ground Model. On board data of performance, opto-mechanical sensitivity, stability and reliability are shown and discussed. From this data an estimate is drawn of the expected lifetime of the life limited items. Additionally, a description of the operations concept is given and current on orbit activities are being discussed.
Developments points of for the ANITA hardware are discussed and possible future applications identified.
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