research overview
- Professor Klaus is involved in research activities that span various engineering, science and operational aspects pertaining to human spaceflight. He has established a novel academic focus area in this field termed Bioastronautics - the study and support of life in space. His primary interests include the conceptual design and evaluation of space habitats, human performance analysis in a spaceflight context, assessment of advanced spacesuit and spacecraft life support system technologies, space systems risk analysis, and gravitational microbiology. Klaus is a faculty affiliate with BioServe Space Technologies and served as Deputy Director for the NASA SmartHab Space Technology Research Institute (STRI) 'Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration' (HOME), led by UC Davis, from 2019-2024. The HOME project concluded in August, with remaining wrap up efforts continuing via a one-year No Cost Extension. In 2024, his work focused on addressing the impact of emergent autonomous technologies on deep space habitat self-sufficiency; assessing wearable sensors used for astronaut workload and task performance evaluation; characterizing cockpit evaluation metrics; and supporting final administrative closeout activities as Executive Director of the FAA Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation (COE CST). He graduated his final 4 PhD students this year and, after 35 years in the AES department as a grad student, research faculty and tenured professor, will be retiring in May 2025.
