I-Suit Advanced Spacesuit Design Improvements and Performance Testing

The I-Suit has been tested in varying environments at Johnson Space Center (JSC). This includes laboratory mobility testing, KC-135 partial gravity flights, and remote field testing in the Mojave Desert. The experience gained from this testing has provided insight for design improvements. These improvements have been an evolutionary process since 1998 to the present. The design improvements affect existing suit components and introduce new components for systems processing and human/robotic interface. Examples of these design improvements include improved mobility joints, a new helmet with integrated communications and displays capability, and integration of textile switches for control of suit functions and tele-robotic operations.

This paper addresses an overview of I-Suit design improvements and results of manned and unmanned performance tests. The performance tests include mobility joint testing, helmet visibility testing, and system level manned testing of the improved suit components.