Performance Characteristics of the Regenerable CO2 Removal System for the NASA EMU

A regenerable carbon dioxide (CO2) removal system has been certified for use with the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), or space suit. The new system, nicknamed “Metox” to reflect its use of metal-oxide as the CO2 sor-bent material, was designed and developed by Hamilton Standard Space Systems International (HSSSI), Inc., under contract1 to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC).

As a part of the certification process, one hundred (100) operating cycles were accumulated on the certification canister and sixteen (16) regeneration cycles on the certification regenerator. This paper presents a summary of those tests. The results characterize canister performance for a wide range of temperatures, pressures and metabolic rates. It also presents regenerator performance under nominal and worst case operating conditions.