ANITA (''Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air'') is a trace gas monitoring system for the International Space Station

ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...

. It is developed by

OHB OHB SE is a European multinational technology corporation. Headquartered in Bremen, Germany, the corporation consists of the two business divisions Space Systems and Aerospace + Industrial Products. A key product of the corporation is fully int ...

and

SINTEF SINTEF ( no, Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning), headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is an independent research organization founded in 1950 that conducts contract research and development projects. SINTEF has 2000 employees from 7 ...

under contract of

ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

Working principle

ANITA is based on Fourier-Transform-Infrared-Spectroscopy FTIR. Each measured gas absorbts light in a certain frequency, these spectral lines are analysed and a gas concentration is calculated.

Development

ANITA-1 was operating from Sept 2007 until Aug 2008 on board the

. It weighed >55kg which was distributed in 2 Middeck Locker Inserts and a Laptop. Power consumption was approx. 150W. It was able to measure more than 32 trace gases on board the ISS. ANITA-2 launched on

SpaceX CRS-24 SpaceX CRS-24, also known as SpX-24, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station launched on 21 December 2021, at 10:07:08 UTC. The mission is contracted by NASA and is flown by SpaceX using a Cargo Dragon. T ...

in Dec. 2021. It has been significantly reduced in size (1 Middeck Locker Insert) and mass (<38kg). The total power consumption is approx. 80W. It features WiFi Connection and a Touch Screen for a more versatile use. Compared to ANITA-1 it has a significantly increased (~factor 4) Signal to Noise Ratio allowing lower detection limits. ANITA-2 is calibrated to detect 37 gases, mostly with a detection limit well below 1ppm. ANITA-2 was installed in an Express Rack inside the Destiny Lab by

Matthias Maurer Matthias Josef Maurer (born 18 March 1970) is a German European Space Agency astronaut and Materials scientist, who was selected in 2015 to take part in space training. Biography Maurer graduated from in Sankt Wendel, Saarland, in 1989.) He ...

January 5, 2022. ANITA-2 is running nearly continuously on board the ISS since March 2022 and is monitoring the gas environment.

Usage

Using ANITA-1 Freon 218 was able to be detected on board the ISS, which was probably leaking from a Russian cooling loop.

References

External links

Overview of the project ANITA-2 at the website of SINTEF
Space stations Interferometers {{Spacecraft-stub