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Forum:Commercial Space - Military Space
Topic:SpaceX%7CAPO%7Cs Crew Dragon astronaut spacesuit
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Robert PearlmanSpaceX release
The Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Suit

In February 2022, Jared Isaacman and SpaceX announced the Polaris Program, an effort designed to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities, while also supporting important causes here on Earth.

Polaris Dawn, the first of the program's three human spaceflight missions, is targeted to launch to orbit no earlier than summer 2024. During the five-day mission, the crew will perform SpaceX's first-ever Extravehicular Activity (more commonly known as an EVA or spacewalk) from Dragon, which will also be the first-ever commercial astronaut spacewalk. This historic milestone will also be the first time four astronauts will be exposed to the vacuum of space at the same time.

Supporting the crew throughout the spacewalk will be SpaceX's newly-developed EVA suit, an evolution of the Intravehicular Activity (IVA) suit crews currently wear aboard Dragon human spaceflight missions. Developed with mobility in mind, SpaceX teams incorporated new materials, fabrication processes, and novel joint designs to provide greater flexibility to astronauts in pressurized scenarios while retaining comfort for unpressurized scenarios.

The 3D-printed helmet incorporates a new visor to reduce glare during the EVA in addition to the new Heads-Up Display (HUD) and camera that provide information on the suit's pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. The suit also incorporates enhancements for reliability and redundancy during a spacewalk, adding seals and pressure valves to help ensure the suit remains pressurized and the crew remains safe.

All of these enhancements to the EVA suit are part of a scalable design, allowing teams to produce and scale to different body types as SpaceX seeks to create greater accessibility to space for all of humanity.

While Polaris Dawn will be the first time the SpaceX EVA suit is used in low-Earth orbit, the suit's ultimate destiny lies much farther from our home planet. Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require the development of a scalable design for the millions of spacesuits required to help make life multiplanetary.

Visor

Externally coated with copper and indium tin oxide (ITO) with an anti-fog treatment on the interior, the polycarbonate visor provides critical thermal insulation while also functioning like a pair of sunglasses during the spacewalk.

Heads-Up Display (HUD) and Camera

Active only during the spacewalk, the HUD displays suit pressure, temperature, and humidity while monitoring how long the astronauts will be exposed to the vacuum of space.

Dual Capability

Used for both intravehicular and extravehicular activities, redundant helmet seals, lockouts on latching mechanisms, and added internal valves for fault tolerant pressure control ensure suit robustness and safety when operating at 5.1 psia during the EVA.

Zippers

Spiral zippers at the waist enable easy in and out of the suit. Zippers on the forearms allow for greater mobility and bare-hand operations until gloves are required.

Outer Layer

SpaceX-developed, flame-resistant stretch fabric material provides greater mobility on the suit’s outer layer.

Thermal Layer

A new textile-based thermal garment material provides mobility while regulating suit temperatures. An easy-access dial on the suit’s umbilical controls an in-suit cooling capability, delivering additional oxygen during the spacewalk.

Boots

Constructed of the same thermal material used on Falcon’s interstage and Dragon’s trunk, the boots provide thermal capability at both high and low temperatures in the vacuum of space as well as greater flexibility.

SkyMan1958There are at least four things that I wonder about this suit. First, is there a liquid cooling garment of some sort associated with it? If not, I can see a repeat of the astronauts overheating as per the old Gemini suits.

Second, how will the visor's coating work in space? Space is not like wearing normal light activated sunglasses. You are going from extremely bright to extremely dark, which is why NASA astronauts have exterior visors that they can move up or down as needed.

Third, how does the astronaut change his/her interior settings, warmer/colder etc., without a vambrace or some sort of a control unit? Is the HUD optically sensitive to where the astronaut's eyes are looking, or something of that sort, so that the astronaut can adjust settings that way?

Fourth, assuming the astronaut is attached to the spacecraft via an umbilical, is the umbilical still going through the astronaut's thigh? I would think that sort of setup would totally mess with your center of mass/center of gravity while doing an EVA.

Robert PearlmanThis spacesuit is not in the same class as the extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) or Apollo A7L. It has no portable life support system and, at least on Polaris Dawn, it is only expected to support a stand-up-like EVA for about two hours.

As such, there may not be a need for a cooling garment or temperature controls. It may use the same approach as the SpaceX IVA suit, which is cooling and circulating the nitrox air that the wearer also breathes. (Any needed adjustments to the flow could be made by another crew member inside Dragon or maybe even the ground.)

From what I can tell, details about the visor's tint have not yet been released.

As for the umbilical, according to SpaceX's website, the connection point remains on the thigh. But again, this was designed for a stand-up EVA...

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