The Lithium Hydroxide (LIOH) Laboratory refurbishes the Environmental Control Life Support System (ECLSS) air purification cartridges used by the Space Shuttle flight crew during flight. These cartridges are a mission-critical flight element. Every processing step and all chemical consumables must be carefully tracked and reported to NASA, Johnson Space Center (JSC), and United Space Alliance management.

Previously, the LIOH Laboratory used a stand-alone database coded in Microsoft FoxPro. The tracking program became operational in 1995 and served the LIOH Laboratory well. However, the extraordinary technical advances in microcomputers/communications over the last 5 years made the FoxPro software obsolete.

The FoxPro program was not on a server, so technicians had to retrieve data from a disk when working on different computers. The original program used standard VGA resolution, which severely limited the available screen "real estate." This limitation required multiple input pages to contain the complete set of data inputs. Users had to constantly switch back and forth between these pages to view all the required data.

In addition, there was no way for the JSC counterparts (or anyone outside the LIOH Laboratory) to directly view cartridge processing data. When an outside agency requested cartridge processing information, technicians were required to run a report on the local computer, print it, and then fax the report.

To solve this problem, the team recoded the CART system in the latest version of Oracle Forms, Reports and Graphics: Oracle Developer 6.0. Five years of lessons learned were applied. As a result, the LIOH Laboratory eliminated redundancies, simplified report formats, and restructured table dependencies. The team maintained (and in many cases enhanced) the program's original functionality and simultaneously simplified data input and screen displays. All critical data is now displayed on a single SVGA screen and is viewable at a single glance.

The processing data is kept on a central Oracle server, thus eliminating the previous disk-swapping required to transfer data between different computers. The server also provides automatic backup and storage services. This not only enhances data safety, it eliminates the need for LIOH Laboratory personnel to constantly produce multiple copies of backup floppy disks.

In addition, the team designed a special Oracle form and published it on the World Wide Web. This gives outside agencies the ability to select and view more than 20 different reports (many with user-defined parameters and some with embedded graphics) anywhere in the world. The new Oracle tracking and reporting program is truly state of the art. A sampling of the reports available includes Cartridge Production and Manifests for Flight Crew, Space Hab, and the Space Station Freedom. Florida Clean Air/Water Reports, which determine the amount of trace chemicals released into the environment, are now available real-time to Environmental Safety and Health.

The LIOH Laboratory developed modern software capabilities and published them on the Web. This provides enhanced real-time reporting capability and simultaneously reduces the significant work hours expended to make them available. Using the CART software, the LIOH Laboratory was able to maintain both production and safety when the processing work force was significantly reduced.

Key accomplishments:

• 1999: Software design and report design complete. Initial coding complete.

Key milestones:

• 2000: Coding complete. System fully implemented.