Comparison tools for assessing the microgravity environment of orbital missions, carriers and conditions

The principal component spectral analysis and the quasi-steady three-dimensional histogram techniques provide the means to describe, on a single plot, the micro-gravity acceleration environment of a long period of time, such as a day, week, or month. This allows a straight forward comparison of the micro-gravity environment between micro-gravity increments on the International Space Station, locations within the International Space Station, and/or different operating conditions. Traditional data display methods (e.g. acceleration versus time), while adequate for shorter time periods, would utilize more plots for an extensive period of time, often making interpretation more difficult. These new techniques provide a single page representation of a large set of micro-gravity acceleration data. These techniques, in conjunction with other techniques, may be employed to derive useful information from acceleration data to characterize or compare the micro-gravity environment