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Piezoelectric pumps offer great potential as an alternative electro-mechanical actuator and as a hydraulic power source. As an actuator, this pump may provide solutions to control system problems in robotics, process control, bioengineering, advanced remote control (telepresence), and automation. As a hydraulic power source they may be useful for active thermal cooling, fluid management, and metering pumps in life support applications. The benefits of piezoelectric based pumps and actuators include increased efficiency, self-cooling, lightweight, compact size, high mechanical reliability, positive displacement, self-priming, no lubrication, no vibration, and rotational inertia. Oceaneering Space Systems (OSS) has produced two successful piezoelectric pump prototypes. The first one is a double-acting diaphragm pump driven by piezoelectric PolyVinylidine DiFluoride (PVDF) polymer. The second prototype is a Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) thermoplastic laminated pump.

The Trace Gas Analyzer (TGA, Figure 1) is a self-contained, battery-powered mass spectrometer that is designed for use by astronauts during extravehicular activities (EVA) on the International Space Station (ISS). The TGA contains a miniature quadrupole mass spectrometer array (QMSA) that determines the partial pressures of ammonia, hydrazines, nitrogen, and oxygen. The QMSA ionizes the ambient gas mixture and analyzes the component species according to their charge-to-mass ratio. The QMSA and its electronics were designed, developed, and tested by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1,2). Oceaneering Space Systems supported JPL in QMSA detector development by performing 3D computer for optimal volumetric integration, and by performing stress and thermal analyses to parameterize environmental performance.

Firefighters want to go to work, do their job well, and go home alive and uninjured. For their most important job, saving lives, firefighters want protective equipment that will allow more extended and effective time at fire scenes in order to perform victim search and rescue. A team, including engineers at NASA JSC and firefighters from Houston, has developed a list of problem areas for which NASA technology and know-how can recommend improvements for firefighter suits and gear. Prototypes for solutions have been developed and are being evaluated. This effort will spin back to NASA as improvements for lunar and planetary suits.

This paper describes the effort performed by Oceaneering Space Systems, Air-Lock, Inc., Raven Aerospace Technology, Inc., and David Clark Company, Inc. to develop lightweight and low-profile spacesuit bearings. Current spacesuit bearings constitute a significant portion of the spacesuit mass and reducing this weight will improve extravehicular activity (EVA) capabilities and reduce launch mass. Reducing the profile of the bearings will increase crew comfort in the suit on long duration missions. The recommended concepts for the waist, scye (shoulder), arm, and wrist bearings share the same basic configuration to achieve weight reduction and a low profile with little technical risk. The bulk structural material is a lightweight carbon/epoxy composite. The bearing race material is 440C stainless steel for wear resistance and hardness. Many features of existing spacesuit bearings were retained to minimize technical risk.

The Sublimator Driven Coldplate is a unique piece of thermal control hardware that has several advantages over a traditional thermal control scheme. The principal advantage is the possible elimination of a pumped fluid loop, potentially saving mass, power, and complexity. Because this concept relies on evaporative heat rejection techniques, it is primarily useful for short mission durations. Additionally, the concept requires a conductive path between the heat-generating component and the heat rejection device. Therefore, it is mostly a relevant solution for a vehicle with a relatively low heat rejection requirement. This paper describes the design of an engineering development unit intended to demonstrate the feasibility of the Sublimator Driven Coldplate concept.