Design of Extended Range EVA PLSS Systems: Lessons From Terrestrial Exploration Missions

Published

May 8, 1997

Author(s)

William C. Stone

Abstract

As plans progress for construction and maintenance of the international space station and, more importantly, private missions to LEO and beyond become viable, serious thought will need to be given to re-engineering EVA (space suit) systems to achieve greater range and reliability at dramatically reduced cost. This paper discusses alternative architectures for fully closed cycle portable life support systems (PLSS) that have been built and tested over the last decade for use in hazardous subaquatic environments. Fault tolerant design, both for the mechanical and computational hardware elements, was employed in the development of four generations of prototype devices. The culmination of these designs was successfully used to explore a 600 meter long underwater tunnel which began at a depth of 1353 meters vertically beneath the surface of the earth in southern Mexico. Lessons relating to survival and range enhancement on orbital and lunar EVA missions are presented.

Proceedings Title

12th Conference on Space Manufacturing

Conference Dates

May 8-11, 1997

Conference Location

Princeton, NJ

Conference Title

Space Studies Institute

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

construction, maintenance, space stations, space suits, life support systems, survival, systems failure, probability, systems analysis

Citation

Stone, W. (1997), Design of Extended Range EVA PLSS Systems: Lessons From Terrestrial Exploration Missions, 12th Conference on Space Manufacturing, Princeton, NJ, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909476 (Accessed April 27, 2026)

Additional citation formats