SCIENCE OBJECTIVES

The objective of the Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS) is to measure and report vibratory and quasi-steady acceleration within the United States Laboratory Module on the International
Space Station. Vibratory acceleration, produced by mechanical equipment and crew activity, has an oscillatory nature with a frequency greater than 1 Hz. Quasi-steady acceleration occurs at frequencies below 1 Hz and is caused by forces such as aerodynamic drag, gravity gradient and rotational velocity
forces, spacecraft mass expulsion, and attitude control system actions.

Providing a microgravity environment is one of the major missions of the International Space Station, and the MAMS instrument will be used to verify the environment, in addition to providing scientific data to individual microgravity experiments in Combustion Science, Fluid Physics, and Crystal Growth. Also, MAMS acceleration data will be used in the analysis of vehicle dynamics, attitude control system performance, docking loads, re-boost performance and atmospheric drag estimation.