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.
keywords
Bioastronautics, human spaceflight, space microbiology
Clinostats and bioreactors..
Gravitational and space biology bulletin : publication of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology.
55-64.
2001
ASEN 2004 - Aerospace 4: Aerospace Vehicle Design and Performance
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
Introduction to design and analysis of aircraft and spacecraft. Aircraft topics include cruise performance, wing design, propulsion, stability, control, and structures. Spacecraft topics include rocket staging, orbit selection, launch systems, and spacecraft subsystems. Includes laboratory experiments and team design exercises.
ASEN 5016 - Space Life Sciences
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020
Familiarizes students with factors affecting living organisms in the reduced-gravity environment of space flight. Covers basic life support requirements, human physiological adaptations, and cellular-level gravity dependent processes with emphasis on technical writing and research proposal preparation.
ASEN 5158 - Space Habitat Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Utilize systems engineering methods to design and analyze a spacecraft intended for human occupancy with functional knowledge of the technologies used to sustain life. Emphasis placed on deriving requirements from stated mission goals and objectives, developing integrated functional schematics into a conceptual design, and analyzing design options by mass/volume estimation, including launch vehicle selection.
