NASA's Advanced Extra-Vehicular Activity Space Suit Pressure Garment 2018 Status and Development Plan

Abstract

This paper presents both near-term and long-term NASA Advanced Extra-vehicular Activity (EVA) Pressure Garment development efforts. The near-term plan discusses the development of pressure garment components for the first design iteration of the International Space Station exploration space suit demonstration configuration, termed the xEMU Demo. The xEMU Demo effort is targeting a 2023-2025 flight demonstration timeframe. The Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) tasks focus on either the initiation or maturation of component design, depending on the state of development of the components, and the assembly of a suit configuration, termed Z-2.5, that will be used to evaluate changes to the upper torso geometry in a Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) test series. The geometry changes, which are being driven by the need to reduce the front-to-back dimension of the advanced extravehicular mobility unit, diverge from a proven shape, such as that of the Mark III Space Suit Technology Demonstrator. The 2018 efforts culminate in the Z-2.5 NBL test. The lessons learned from the Z-2.5 NBL test will inform the xEMU Demo design as the effort moves toward design verification testing and preliminary and critical design reviews. The long-term development plan looks to surface exploration and operations. Technology and knowledge gaps exist between the xEMU Demo configuration; a lunar surface capability, xEMU; and Mars surface suit, mEMU. The development plan takes into account both the priority and the anticipated development duration for each particular technology. The long-term development plan will be updated as risks are mitigated and gaps are closed, but its overarching structure will remain intact