Exploratory study of man's self-locomotion capabilities with a space suit in lunar gravity
Human performance in pressurized suit in simulated lunar gravity environment compared to performance in earth gravity
EARTH↗
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Results for “Space suit”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Non-anthropomorphic mobility device and space suit design study
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Deaton, R. L.↗
Space suit may have orthotic applications
Application of movable joints for spacesuits to orthotic and prosthetic devices is discussed. Specifications of the joints, degrees of movement, and details of construction are described. Illustrations of the equipment are provided.
Vykukal, H. C.↗
High pressure space suit glove
A description is given of a prototype full pressure glove that will allow maximum dexterity, tactility and stability at an operating pressure of psi.
Source record↗
On development of a sealed bearing for space suits
The work to correct several design deficiencies present in the bearings used in the orbital extravehicular spacesuit is reported. These deficiencies included: difficult stitch-on interface between fabric and outer race; a tendency for the clamping threads to seize; and, most importantly, the failure of the sealing surfaces (Teflon seat, Delrin seal) to maintain integrity with cycling. The first problem was corrected by raising the stitch-on holes so as to be more accessible. The seizing was eliminated by changing to a coarser thread, from 32/inch to 24/inch. The solution to the sealing problem required a materials evaluation, candidate material selection, and adhesive evaluation (for bonding the seat material to the outer race) and bench-cycling of candidate seal/seat combinations. The final configuration, successfully bench-cycled and delivered to NASA, is shown.
Rayfield, J.↗
EV space suit gloves (passive)
A pair of pressure and thermal insulating overgloves to be used with an Extravehicular (EV) suit assembly was designed, developed, fabricated, and tested. The design features extensive use of Nomex felt materials in lieu of the multiple layer insulation formerly used with the Apollo thermal glove. The glove theoretically satisfies all of the thermal requirements. The presence of the thermal glove does not degrade pressure glove tactility by more than the acceptable 10% value. On the other hand, the thermal glove generally degrades pressure glove mobility by more than the acceptable 10% value, primarily in the area of the fingers. Life cycling tests were completed with minimal problems. The thermal glove/pressure glove ensemble was also tested for comfort; the test subjects found no problems with the thermal glove although they did report difficulties with pressure points on the pressure glove which were independent of the thermal glove.
Fletcher, E. G.↗
High pressure space suit assembly
An effort is underway to incorporate advanced suit and LSS components into a functional suit in order to assess the performance of these components. A brief description of the suit configuration is presented.
Vykukal, H. C.↗
Thermal conductance of space suit insulations, thermal micrometeroid garments, and other insulations
The thermal protection capabilities of development and operational thermal micrometeroid garments and other insulations were evaluated. The relationship among sample thermal conductance, surface temperature, and compressive loads was empirically defined.
Richardson, D. L.↗
Report on the Stanford/Ames direct-link space suit prehensor
Researchers at the Center for Design Research at Stanford University, in collaboration with NASA Ames at Moffet Field, California, are developing hand-powered mechanical prehensors to replace gloves for EVA spacesuits. The design and functional properties of the first version Direct Link Prehensor (DLP) is discussed. It has a total of six degrees-of-freedom and is the most elaborate of three prehensors being developed for the project. The DLP has a robust design and utilizes only linkages and revolute joints for the drive system. With its anthropomorphic configuration of two fingers and a thumb, it is easy to control and is capable of all of the basic prehension patterns such as cylindrical or lateral pinch grasps. Kinematic analysis reveals that, assuming point contacts, a grasped object can be manipulated with three degrees-of-freedom. Yet, in practice more degrees-of-freedom are possible.
Jameson, J. W.↗
The use of underwater dynamometry to evaluate two space suits
Four Astronauts were instrumented and donned one of three extravehicular activity (EVA) suits: the currently in use shuttle suit (STS), the Mark III (MK3), and the AX5. The STS was used as the comparison suit because of approved status. Each subject performed ten different exercises in each suit in three different manners (static, dynamic and fatigue) in two different environments, WETF and KC-135 (KC-135 not completed as of this report). Data were recorded from a flight qualified underwater dynamometer (Cybex power head) with a TEAC multichannel recorder/tape and downloaded into the VAX computer system for analysis. Also direct hard copy strip chart recordings were made for backup comparisons. Data were analyzed using the ANOVA procedure and results were graphed and reported without interpretation to the NASA/JSC ABL manager.
Squires, W. G.↗
Proton and Electron Threshold Energy Measurements for Extravehicular Activity Space Suits
Construction of ISS will require more than 1000 hours of EVA. Outside of ISS during EVA, astronauts and cosmonauts are likely to be exposed to a large fluence of electrons and protons. Development of radiation protection guidelines requires the determination of the minimum energy of electrons and protons that penetrate the suits at various locations. Measurements of the water-equivalent thickness of both US. and Russian EVA suits were obtained by performing CT scans. Specific regions of interest of the suits were further evaluated using a differential range shift technique. This technique involved measuring thickness ionization curves for 6-MeV electron and 155-MeV proton beams with ionization chambers using a constant source-to-detector distance. The thicknesses were obtained by stacking polystyrene slabs immediately upstream of the detector. The thicknesses of the 50% ionizations relative to the maximum ionizations were determined. The detectors were then placed within the suit and the stack thickness adjusted until the 50% ionization was reestablished. The difference in thickness between the 50% thicknesses was then used with standard range-energy tables to determine the threshold energy for penetration. This report provides a detailed description of the experimental arrangement and results.
Moyers, M. F.↗
Physics-based Simulation of Human Posture Using 3D Whole Body Scanning Technology for Astronaut Space Suit Evaluation
Over the past few years high precision three-dimensional (3D) full body laser scanners have been developed to be used as a powerful anthropometry tool for quantification of the morphology of the human body. The full body scanner can quickly extract body characteristics in non-contact fashion. It is required for the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) to have capabilities for kinematics simulation of a digital human at various postures whereas the laser scanner only allows capturing a single static posture at each time. During this summer fellowship period a theoretical study has been conducted to estimate an arbitrary posture with a series of example postures through finite element (FE) approximation and found that four-point isoparametric FE approximation would result in reasonable maximum position errors less than 5%. Subsequent pilot scan experiments demonstrated that a bead marker with a nominal size of 6 mm could be used as a marker for digitizing 3-D coordinates of anatomical landmarks for further kinematic analysis. Two sessions of human subject testing were conducted for reconstruction of an arbitrary postures from a set of example postures for each joint motion for the forearm/hand complex and the whole upper extremity.
Kim, Kyu-Jung↗
Anthropometric Accommodation in Space Suit Design
Design requirements for next generation hardware are in process at NASA. Anthropometry requirements are given in terms of minimum and maximum sizes for critical dimensions that hardware must accommodate. These dimensions drive vehicle design and suit design, and implicitly have an effect on crew selection and participation. At this stage in the process, stakeholders such as cockpit and suit designers were asked to provide lists of dimensions that will be critical for their design. In addition, they were asked to provide technically feasible minimum and maximum ranges for these dimensions. Using an adjusted 1988 Anthropometric Survey of U.S. Army (ANSUR) database to represent a future astronaut population, the accommodation ranges provided by the suit critical dimensions were calculated. This project involved participation from the Anthropometry and Biomechanics facility (ABF) as well as suit designers, with suit designers providing expertise about feasible hardware dimensions and the ABF providing accommodation analysis. The initial analysis provided the suit design team with the accommodation levels associated with the critical dimensions provided early in the study. Additional outcomes will include a comparison of principal components analysis as an alternate method for anthropometric analysis.
Rajulu, Sudhakar↗
Helmet Exhalation Capture System (HECS) Sizing Evaluation for an Advanced Space Suit Portable Life Support System
As part of NASA s initiative to develop an advanced portable life support system (PLSS), a baseline schematic has been chosen that includes gaseous oxygen in a closed circuit ventilation configuration. Supply oxygen enters the suit at the back of the helmet and return gases pass over the astronaut s body to be extracted at the astronaut s wrists and ankles through the liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG). The extracted gases are then treated using a rapid cycling amine (RCA) system for carbon dioxide and water removal and activated carbon for trace gas removal before being mixed with makeup oxygen and reintroduced into the helmet. Thermal control is provided by a suit water membrane evaporator (SWME). As an extension of the original schematic development, NASA evaluated several Helmet Exhalation Capture System (HECS) configurations as alternatives to the baseline. The HECS configurations incorporate the use of full contact masks or non-contact masks to reduce flow requirements within the PLSS ventilation subsystem. The primary scope of this study was to compare the alternatives based on mass and volume considerations; however other design issues were also briefly investigated. This paper summarizes the results of this sizing analysis task.
Paul, Heather L.↗
A Novel Method for Quantifying Helmeted Field of View of a Space Suit - And What it Means for Constellation
Field of view has always been a design feature paramount to helmet design, and in particular spacesuit design, where the helmet must provide an adequate field of view for a large range of activities, environments, and body positions. Historically, suited field of view has been evaluated either qualitatively in parallel with design or quantitatively using various test methods and protocols. As such, oftentimes legacy suit field of view information is either ambiguous for lack of supporting data or contradictory to other field of view tests performed with different subjects and test methods. This paper serves to document a new field of view testing method that is more reliable and repeatable than its predecessors. It borrows heavily from standard field of vision tests such as the Goldmann kinetic perimetry test, but is designed specifically for evaluating field of view of a spacesuit helmet. In this test, three suits utilizing three different helmet designs were tested for field of view. Not only do these tests provide more reliable field of view data for legacy and prototype helmet designs, they also provide insight into how helmet design impacts field of view and what this means for the Constellation Project spacesuit helmet, which must meet stringent field of view requirements that are more generous to the crewmember than legacy designs.
McFarland, Shane M.↗
Modeling the Impact of Space Suit Components and Anthropometry on the Center of Mass of a Seated Crewmember
The Crew Impact Attenuation System (CIAS) is the energy-absorbing strut concept that dampens Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) landing loads to levels sustainable by the crew. Significant COM variations across suited crew configurations would amplify the inertial effects of the pallet and potentially create unacceptable crew loading during launch and landing. The objective of this study was to obtain data needed for dynamic simulation models by quantifying the effects of posture, suit components, and the expected range of anthropometry on the COM of a seated individual. Several elements are required for the COM calculation of a suited human in a seated position: anthropometry, body segment mass, suit component mass, suit component location relative to the body, and joint angles defining the seated posture. Three-dimensional (3D) human body models, suit mass data, and vector calculus were utilized to compute the COM positions for 12 boundary manikins in two different seated postures. The analysis focused on two objectives: (1) quantify how much the wholebody COM varied from the smallest to largest subject and (2) quantify the effects of the suit components on the overall COM in each seat configuration. The location of the anterior-posterior COM varied across all boundary manikins by about 7 cm, and the vertical COM varied by approximately 9 to 10 cm. The mediolateral COM varied by 1.2 cm from the midline sagittal plane for both seat configurations. The suit components caused an anterior shift of the total COM by approximately 2 cm and a shift to the right along the mediolateral axis of 0.4 cm for both seat configurations. When the seat configuration was in the standard posture the suited vertical COM shifted inferiorly by as much as 1 cm, whereas in the CEV posture the vertical COM had no appreciable change. These general differences were due to the high proportion of suit mass located in the boots and lower legs and their corresponding distance from the body COM, as well as to the prevalence of suit components on the right side of the body.
Blackledge, Christopher↗
Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission Space Suit and EVA System Architecture Trade Study
No abstract available
Bowie, Jonathan↗