Spectroscopic Determination of Trace Contaminants in High-Purity Oxygen

Oxygen used for extravehicular activities (EVAs) must be free of contaminants because a difference in a few tenths of a percent of argon or nitrogen content can mean significant reduction in available EVA time. These inert gases build up in the extravehicular mobility unit because they are not metabolized or scrubbed from the atmosphere. A prototype optical emission technique capable of detecting argon and nitrogen below 0.1% in oxygen has been developed. This instrument uses a glow discharge in reduced-pressure gas to produce atomic emission from the species present. Because the atomic emission lines from oxygen, nitrogen, and argon are discrete, and in many cases well-separated, trace amounts of argon and nitrogen can be detected in the ultraviolet and visible spectrum. This is a straightforward, direct measurement of the target contaminants, and may lend itself to a device capable of on-orbit verification of oxygen purity.