Search Results

In order to reduce the condensation in the Space Station Freedom module, the design of its surface and/or the meteoroid protection shield surface requires special coating to raise the surface temperature while on orbit. This raises a concern of whether the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) glove will be able to protect the crew member during the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) when the crew member touches the hot or cold surface. EMU gloves provide protection to crew members' hands from a hot or cold touch temperature during an EVA when grasping or touching an object. These gloves also provide protection to crew members in extreme thermal environments. A glove thermal model with the most up-to-date configuration information was developed and utilized to predict reliable touch temperature limits. The analyses performed evaluated several worst case scenarios of both hot and cold environments and object temperatures.

Comments of the Space Shuttle crew indicate that the Launch Entry Suit (LES) may provide inadequate cooling before launch and after reentry. During these periods some crewmembers experienced thermal discomfort induced by localized cabin heating, middeck experiments, and crewmembers' body heat and humidity. The NASA Johnson Space Center(JSC) Crew and Thermal System Division (CTSD) executed a two phase study, analysis and testing, to investigate this problem. The analysis phase used a computer model of the LES to study the transient heat dissipation and temperature response under the various Space Shuttle flight cabin environments. After the completion of the analysis, the testing phase was conducted to collect the engineering data in order to validate the analysis results. Due to the constraint of the test facility, the test was conducted on the air cooled techniques only. This paper presents the analytical model, its solution and an evaluation and summary of the test results.

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.