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Prior studies have been performed where basic fabric lay-ups of the current Shuttle spacesuit were tested for radiation shielding capabilities. It was found that the fabric portions of the suit give far less protection from radiation than previously estimated. This is due to the porosity and non-uniformity of the fabrics and LCVG components. These findings were incorporated into the spacesuit model developed at NASA Langley Research Center to estimate exposures for mission planning and evaluation of safety during radiation field disturbance. Overall material transmission properties were also less than optimal. In order to evaluate the radiation protection characteristics of some proposed new spacesuit materials, fifteen test target combinations of current baseline and new proposed spacesuit materials were exposed to a low-energy proton beam at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Each target combination contained all of the necessary spacesuit layers, i.e.

A detailed spacesuit computational model is being developed at the Langley Research Center for radiation exposure evaluation studies. The details of the construction of the spacesuit are critical to estimation of exposures and assessing the risk to the astronaut on EVA. Past evaluations of spacesuit shielding properties assumed the basic fabric lay-up (Thermal Micrometeroid Garment, fabric restraints, and pressure envelope) and Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) could be homogenized as a single layer overestimating the protective properties over 60 percent of the fabric area. The present spacesuit model represents the inhomogeneous distributions of LCVG materials (mainly the water filled cooling tubes). An experimental test is performed using a 34-MeV proton beam and high-resolution detectors to compare with model-predicted transmission factors. Some suggestions are made on possible improved construction methods to improve the spacesuit’s protection properties.

In prior studies of the current Shuttle Spacesuit (SSA), where basic fabric lay-ups were tested for shielding capabilities, it was found that the fabric portions of the suit give far less protection than previously estimated due to porosity and non-uniformity of fabric and LCVG components. In addition, overall material transmission properties were less than optimum. A number of alternate approaches are being tested to provide more uniform coverage and to use more efficient materials. We will discuss in this paper, recent testing of new material lay-ups/configurations for possible use in future spacesuit designs.