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NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has an interest in an automated in-line monitor that can detect the presence of microbial contamination in recovered water. Ideally, this system should also be able to identify and enumerate the microbial contaminant. The Viable Microbial Monitor (VM2) is based on conductance microbiology which depends on the well documented ability of microorganisms to change the electrochemical properties of their growth medium during incubation. The VM2 is intended for the rapid detection of bacterial or fungal contamination in water and other samples. From October 1992 to July 1993, NASA-MSFC sponsored a Microbial In-line Monitor (MIM) study to evaluate the VM2 for its ability to detect ten microorganism species (9 bacteria and 1 yeast) recovered from Water Recovery Tests (WRT) conducted at MSFC. These WRT isolates may represent the microbes that have potential to contaminate a water recovery system.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) is of primary importance for scientific tests which involve the direct contact of test products with human participants. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), recognized this early in the Water Recovery Test (WRT) for the Space Station Freedom Program. An Analytical Control Program was established by NASA to provide independent oversight of WRT analytical procedures and policies. The program is governed by the Analytical Control Test Plan and Microbiological Methods for Water Recovery Testing (AC Plan), which includes discussions of Inter-Laboratory Verification, Quality Assurance/Quality Control (Laboratory Monitoring), Sample Tracking, Methods Review, Audit Procedures, and Data Validation.