Genesis of a Commercial Space Suit from Dining Room Table to Revolutionary Space Company

Abstract

Abstract

The pressurized space suit is an essential enabler for human exploration and eventual settlement of space. A key problem is reducing resistance of the suit to movements of the human occupant. In 2007, NASA sponsored the Astronaut Glove Centennial Challenge which sought non-traditional competitors who could create better gloves than NASA's own state-of-the-art. The winning gloves were developed and built by the author on his dining room table. This and later developments followed a process that is different from most aerospace programs in that it emphasized iterative hands-on build-test-learn cycles over more traditional design and analysis cycles, yet produced significant innovations in glove flexibility, bending resistance compensation, and ability to fabricate custom-patterned (bespoke) gloves with less effort than standard-sized gloves. Gloves incorporating this technology have demonstrated twice the flexibility of current designs which allows higher suit operating pressure and “zero pre-breathe” extravehicular activity. These developments are directly applicable to the larger joints of a space suit. The author is applying the knowledge learned to develop space suit pressure garments for the revolutionary rocket company SpaceX.