DEVELOPMENT OF THE SUIT ENCLOSURE OF THE EUROPEAN EVA SPACE SUIT

The paper describes the effort carried out in Europe for the design and development of an EVA Suit Enclosure Module (ESEM) operating at 500 hPa, within the frame of the development studies of the Hermes Spaceplane EVA System. The general ESEM design is supported by four technology studies each one focused on a breadboard manufacturing and testing. A glove breadboard is fully tested in a dedicated glove box; The bending performances of the rolling convolute shoulder joint breadboard are assessed through mechanical tests; A material screening is performed leading to an arm thermal protection and an elbow soft joint respectively thermally and mechanically tested; A demonstration of the biomedical section is performed.

All these technology programs and a general definition study conclude to a definition of the ESEM flight model described in the paper. The last step of the phase consists in the manufacturing and integration of a suit demonstrator including the tested breadboards and a representative Hard Upper Torso. The other parts are simplified but allow a pressurized ergonomic evaluation. The future phase, based on all these development activities is finally presented at the end of the paper.