Fri, Oct 24, 2008
Joins Texas A&M University On Moon–Mars Suit Design
Project
Orbital Outfitters, the Texas
Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) of the Texas A&M
University System, has been selected by NASA with its partner
Dittmar Associates to develop new concepts for a "soft
shoulder" for NASA's new Constellation space suit that is to
support future missions to the International Space Station and
beyond. These missions include the return of humans to the
moon and potentially to Mars.
"This is an excellent opportunity for NASA and OO as this area
of technology is precisely where OO has been devoting its primary
efforts for the last two years", said Jeff Feige, CEO. "Our goal is
to provide our clients in the newly emerging sub-orbital commercial
space travel industry with comfortable yet safe suits for their
crews and customers. There are common needs between this industry
and NASA and this collaboration provides a strong linkage between
the two."
The NASA Johnson Space Center issued a Request for Quotation as
Delivery Order 40 under the Crew, Robotics, and Vehicle Engineering
(CRAVE) Program on July 1, 2008. The primary stated objective was
to "develop a shoulder mobility joint without a Scye bearing."
Orbital Outfitters says the successful removal of the Scye
bearing used in present suit designs greatly reduces the potential
for shoulder and other injuries under operations that become
off-nominal during launch and landing.
Selection of the OO/TEES/DA team was announced on August 19. The
team will collaborate in establishing new concepts for detailed
evaluation. For concepts selected, OO will develop and fabricate
test units for test and analysis.
OO's internal team includes noted designer Chris Gilman, program
manager Dennis Gilliam, and Peter Homer... who won NASA's earlier
$200,000 space suit glove prize.
OO first made news last year with the development of the world's
first space suit for use in the emerging commercial space travel
industry. The suit, known as the IS3 (Industrial Sub-Orbital Space
Suit), was developed specifically for the pilots and crew of these
new vehicles. The first suits are scheduled for delivery to XCOR
Aerospace of Mojave, CA for use in their initial sub-orbital flight
tests.
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