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ASDA was developed to evaluate the heat and mass transfer characteristics of advanced pressurized suit design concepts for use in low pressure or vacuum planetary environments. The model incorporates a generalized 3-layer suit, constructed with the Systems Integrated Numerical Differencing Analyzer '85 (SINDA '85), with a 41- node FORTRAN routine that simulates the transient heat transfer and respiratory processes of a human body in a suited environment. User options for the suit include a liquid cooled garment, a removable jacket, a CO2/H2O permeable layer and a phase change layer. The model also has an option to isolate flowing oxygen in the helmet from stagnant or flowing gas in the torso and limbs. Options for the environment include free and forced convection with a user input atmosphere, incident solar/infrared fluxes, radiation to a background sink and radiation and conduction to a surface. Results from a study of Mars suit concepts will also be presented.

A series of hot and cold thermal vacuum tests compared the radiation and contact conduction thermal performance of two Space Shuttle extravehicular pressure suit glove designs. An ambient test established the relationship between heat transfer and contact pressure. Contact with hot and cold objects was tolerated longer with an enhanced fingertip insulation design. The data obtained was used to correlate a glove model for predicting skin temperatures of advanced gloves in extreme extravehicular thermal environments.

A thermoelectric liquid cooling system recently developed at the Johnson Space Center was evaluated in manned and unmanned ground tests as an alternative to the Space Shuttle launch and entry suit personal fan. The liquid cooling system provided superior cooling in environments simulating flight deck conditions during launch and postlanding.