Engineering Papers⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Christine N Kovich

Publications and source records attributed to Christine N Kovich.

Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program (EHP) Exploration EVA (xEVA) System Compatibility Standards

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) is a significant capability for Artemis Systems which includes Gateway Program (modules), Human Landing System (HLS) Program (Integrated Lander and Human Class Delivery Lander), Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), Pressurized Rover (PR), Payloads, and any other future lunar surface assets that will be utilized for exploration or science. The EVA and Human Surface Mobility Program (EHP) will provide the following: Exploration EVA (xEVA) suits, xEVA tools and crew aids along with vehicle integration/support hardware, LTV, and PR. Being a distributed and dynamic capability (moving components), xEVA System hardware will interface with almost all elements of the Artemis architecture. As such, it is important to document a singular set of EVA compatibility standards at the programmatic level to articulate “how to interface with xEVA suit hardware” and “how to design hardware that EVA crewmembers will access and manipulate.”

Exploration↗

Human Landing System (HLS) Program Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Compatibility Interface Requirements Document (IRD)

The purpose of this document is to establish a set of EVA compatibility design requirements for the HLS Program. This document contains the fundamental information required for building hardware compatible with suited EVA flight crewmembers to perform EVAs. Compatibility requirements are located in section 3.0 with a gravity field applicability table provided in APPENDIX G, Human Landing System Program Applicability Matrix. Each HLS Provider will use the EHP-provided matrix in Appendix G to assess applicability to the awarded mission provider on a per-mission basis. Providers will negotiate applicability with EHP, and this will be documented in the appropriate Annex (reference section 2.2)

Christine N Kovich↗

Compatibility Between Exploration EVA System and Exploration Spacecraft

Over the life of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), numerous products detailing “how to build Extravehicular Activity (EVA) System hardware”, “how to interface with EVA System hardware” and “how to design hardware EVA will access and utilize” were generated to provide interoperability between a suited crewmember and the specified vehicle’s EVA task. Since the inception of these products, some have continued to receive updates due to the necessity of an on-going program while others remained unchanged for years and have led to discrepancies between the current accepted values and those considered outdated. For EVA-suited crewmember tasks beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), new vehicles need a single consolidated location for the best practices and lessons learned from the EVA Community. This paper outlines what common EVA compatibility design requirements are expected of an Exploration spacecraft that has interactions between the vehicle and an EVA suited crewmember for and an approach for standardizing EVA compatibility across various vehicles at various destinations. The approach of standardization allows for flexibility by tailoring the applicability to meet the EVA tasks required for that vehicle’s operation beyond Low Earth Orbit. This paper will also describe the broad difference between microgravity and partial gravity EVA compatibility and how those requirements were identified and will be informed.

Compatibility↗