Talk:Constellation Space Suit

Some comments[edit]

Today on June 2nd, 2010 it seems Constellation is most likely canceled so that means no config 2 moon suit. Config 1 will most likely be worn worn abroad a Dragon capsule by 2015 (if everything goes as planned and on time). If this happens it will also mean that the use of the ACES suit ends with the Shuttle Program.

When Oceanering was awarded the space suit contract in 2008 the ISS program was scheduled to end in 2015, since it has been extended the EMU suits abroad the station will probably be replaced with a CSS (Constellation Space Suit or whatever it will be called by then). A Space Station CSS couldn't be a config. 1 suit because it lacks an independent life support and relies on umbilicals. It would most likely be a combination of both config 1 and 2, it would have a rear-entry hatch (these suits would be kept on station and wouldn't be able to be used for launch/ entry protection because of the hatch), may lack some of the torso barrings of config 2, the helmet would not be downward facing. This new suit config will also most likely be the one used on an asteroid mission, using it on the ISS may be justified in that the suit is being proven before a beyond low earth orbit mission (the first in over 50 years).

Config 2 will probably eventually become a Martian suit, but that will be more than twenty years from me writing this and by then we'll probably be recording our childern's births in 3-D and the emotional scarring will be the stuff that Imagineers could only dream of. --Craigboy (talk) 08:06, 2 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What references are you basing assumptions that the suit (either config) will be used in programs outside of Constellation?--RadioFan (talk) 15:54, 22 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've done a lot of research in regards to these suits. There was no reason or talk of canceling the Constellation spacesuit (whose name is now outdated but no name for the new program has been revealed). NASA has been planning a replacement to the EMU for a long time (Soure: US Spacesuits) but didn't need to replace it until a terrestrial mission was planned (the EMU can't be used on a planetary surface because it way too heavy and the legs aren't designed to bend). The current Mars centered program that Constellation has been replaced with still would need a spacesuit.

"In the coming weeks, the Obama administration will make a decision on the future of U.S. human spaceflight, which could significantly change the direction of the Constellation program. "The bottom line is that if we are going to do manned missions, we need a new space suit," says Hill. And, he adds, "we have made the suit modular for that reason; if they decide to skip the moon and go to Mars, it does not change our architecture.""(Please note this is a reference listed in the article) NASA's Next Space Suit - January 25, 2010

"SEC. 304.a. In General- In developing the Space Launch System pursuant to section 302 and the multi-purpose crew vehicle pursuant to section 303, the Administrator shall, to the extent practicable utilize existing contracts, investments, workforce, industrial base, and capabilities from the Space Shuttle and Orion and Ares 1 projects, including space-suit development activities for application to, and coordinated development of, a multi-purpose crew vehicle suit and associated life-support requirements with potential development of standard NASA-certified suit and life support systems for use in alternative commercially-developed crew transportation systems..." NASA Authorization Act of 2010 - Signed into law by the President on October 11th, 2010 --Craigboy (talk) 07:27, 30 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

While I appreciate your expertise and efforts here to improve articles about the space suits, stepping back and looking at the bigger picture would be wise. Authorization acts such as this one are very general and dont make good references for information as specific as what is being dealt with here. We must be careful to keep the article as specific (or non-specific) as the references indicate. Making assumptions about this suits future is original research and should be avoided.--RadioFan (talk) 23:35, 30 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The ideas in the original comment (2 June 2010) have been in no way added to the article. All information has pointed to the continued development of and use of this suit, there has never been any talk of it not, but yet you continue to make assumptions based on your lack of knowledge of the NASA Authorization Bill of 2010. Please do not edit this page any further until you have read it.--Craigboy (talk) 11:10, 31 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've read it, several times. It's like every other authorization bill. It's written from a very high level. We must be careful not to read too much into it. If other sources read into it, that's fine, those can be used as references. --RadioFan (talk) 12:40, 31 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I apologize I was in a bad mood, maybe we can come to a compromise in the edits.--Craigboy (talk) 23:30, 31 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Uncertainty[edit]

"NASA has scaled back its expectations for the next-generation spacesuit, at least in the short term, according to Greg Stonesifer, a program manager for the spacesuit program at Hamilton. Rather than designing a suit that can be worn during travel to and from space as well as for spacewalks, the team is now focused on a suit that will be worn primarily in transit.

"What we're trying to build is a launch-abort-escape suit," he said Friday by phone from Houston.

Hamilton's maintenance contract for the old suits meanwhile "keeps us firmly in the space business for at least another 10 years, and probably well beyond that," company spokesman Dan Coulom said."

http://articles.courant.com/2010-10-01/business/hc-space-suit-contract-hamilton-20101001_1_spacesuit-program-extravehicular-mobility-unit-oceaneering-and-hamilton --Craigboy (talk) 13:13, 20 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Found old news from back in September, 2010. Looks like multiple companies are developing prototypes.

Constellation Program Status 9/24

High-res pic

Pocket charts for EVA

What the the third link seems to state is that they're no longer planning on doing a single system suit.

--Craigboy (talk) 01:08, 28 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"EVA has coordinated with Orion to focus our development efforts on suit architecture trades in light of the new beyond-LEO mission timetable, and including modified Advanced Crew Escape System (Shuttle launch and entry suit) in launch and entry suit trade study. At the same time, we have deferred efforts on beyond-LEO suit design and commonality with the launch and entry suit." - Douglas Cooke Testimony on March 30, 2011.

Video that shows some suits. Jul 8, 2011

NASA slide show mentions the exploration space suit. http://images.spaceref.com/news/2011/thomas.SmallSteps.pdf

Great slide show http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110004034_2011001859.pdf

Bits and pieces of info are still coming through but I recently found a good old source from May 2011.

"Although the Constellation Program has been restructured in the last year, spacesuit development is still ongoing". "Since a return-to-the-moon mission is not currently on the agenda, much of these spacesuit requirements must undergo rigorous adjustments. “What we’re trying to do is continually develop the suit system that we have in order to meet our design goals and be an improvement over the heritage hardware,” Vande Zande said. “The CSSS contract, which includes partners Oceaneering, David Clark, ILC Dover and Hamilton Sundstrand, among others, has been working with the NASA team to revise our baseline system throughout the changing environment.” The team has been developing several prototypes that range from suits that have minimal functionality to those that could be used during microgravity spacewalks." This seems to agree with the Douglas Cooke testimony from above.

C-SAFE Pathfinder 1 – Enhanced mobility launch-and-entry suit with on-demand breathing system. - (Oceaneering and David Clark)
C-SAFE Pathfinder 2 – Enhanced mobility launch-and-entry suit with continuous loop breathing system and integrated ganged umbilical. - (Oceaneering and ILC Dover)
Configuration 1 Demonstrator suit – Enhanced mobility high-pressure launch-and-entry suit with continuous loop breathing system and secondary restraint system to accommodate spacewalk load cases. - (Oceaneering and David Clark)
ESR3D – International orange nylon suit mock-up, primarily built for unpressurized suited testing (multiple sizes available). - (ILC Dover)
ZEI suit – High-mobility pressure suit built to evaluate LEA and microgravity spacewalk mobility features with continuous loop breathing system. - (ILC Dover) --Craigboy (talk) 09:21, 25 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"In FY 2012, extra-vehicular activity (EVA) support to the Orion MPCV has been suspended pending further program review of baseline requirements; however, the EVA suit and portable life support system research continues under the Advanced Exploration Systems program." - FY 2013 budget--Craigboy (talk) 06:16, 14 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

At 00:4:00, Mike Suffredini says "The Exploration suit that has been in development for some time, it is our hope to get that developed and on ISS and operate on ISS long enough to have the reliability confidence to be able to use it beyond beyond low earth orbit."--Craigboy (talk) 21:36, 5 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Advanced EMU (AEDU) is an EVA specific design, not a combined LEA and EVA system like the Apollo EMU but more like the Shuttle/ISS EMU. This assumption holds greater impact for the SSA than the PLSS, but does have implications for the PLSS enabling for optimizations of the system package because the Secondary Oxygen Assembly (SOA) does not need to be modular to support a LEA configuration EVA suit as it did in the initial Operations Concepts(8) for the Constellation Program (CxP)

Lunar soil and Fabric Abrasion[edit]

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090040698_2009041519.pdf

Interesting document.

--Craigboy (talk) 05:43, 28 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Some positive news[edit]

www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/2012/0312.pdf

The Z-1 prototype spacesuit seems to be the most current prototype of the Space Shuttle/ISS EMU successor. “The goal is by the 2014/2015 timeframe to have a new vacuum compatible exploration-type suit." The Z-1 may be a Zero Pressure suit but the article is a little vahue. The next prototype will be called the Z-2. A new PLSS is being developed (currently called PLSS 2.0). Eventually the Z prototypes and new PLSS will be merged. They never say when they expect this suit to be used.--Craigboy (talk) 11:24, 9 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Problematic tenses?[edit]

Why is most of this article formulated as future? The program was officially cancelled, so even if it originally was taken over verbatim from NASA documents (which should not happen on wikipedia anyways) there is no longer a point in having an article about a suit that will most likely never come to be built for a real mission, speaking of the projected garment in future tense. Also a hint at the MACES concept might be of value as it is included in the text for the ACES suit (modified ACES as a shot term extension of service life for the shuttle and ISS era suit). As it is, this article is very deceptive. --5.146.47.75 (talk) 08:20, 1 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Update[edit]

Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) is the name of the suit and accompanying emergency equipment that with be used by Orion during launch and re-entry.--Craigboy (talk) 13:36, 6 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]