Space Station Surface Touch Temperature Study

In order to reduce the condensation in the Space Station Freedom module, the design of its surface and/or the meteoroid protection shield surface requires special coating to raise the surface temperature while on orbit. This raises a concern of whether the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) glove will be able to protect the crew member during the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) when the crew member touches the hot or cold surface.

EMU gloves provide protection to crew members' hands from a hot or cold touch temperature during an EVA when grasping or touching an object. These gloves also provide protection to crew members in extreme thermal environments. A glove thermal model with the most up-to-date configuration information was developed and utilized to predict reliable touch temperature limits.

The analyses performed evaluated several worst case scenarios of both hot and cold environments and object temperatures. This information has been used by Space Station Freedom hardware developers of the meteoroid debris shields as one of the key parameters for their designs. This paper documents the glove model development, analytical approach and the results.