Permanent EVA/IVA Repair of Fluid Systems for Space Station (Tool Systems Methodology)

A McDonnell Douglas Aerospace repair tool design and development effort covering the last 5 years will be the source of the hardware to support the Work Package 2 extravehicular activity (EVA) on-orbit repair. This repair system will service over 2 miles of fluid lines. These fluid lines support the environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS), the thermal control system (TCS), and the supplemental reboost system (SRS). Additional requirements for this tool system will be the extravehicular activity (EVA) repair of ammonia lines for the solar radiators of Work Package 4 and the intravehicular activity (IVA) repair of tubing in the habitation module, laboratory module, and the resource nodes. This paper also presents how these tool designs address restrictive spacing, the process of chip-free cutting out of in-place tubing, and through a systematic process, the replacement of tubing to make a permanent leak-proof repair.