Session: 07-01-02: Injury Sensing and Mitigation

Paper Number: 172524

Spacesuit Testing Surveillance Program Towards the Early Detection and Mitigation of Injury 

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has the ambitious goal of resuming lunar exploration during its Artemis campaign, which will include several Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) on the south pole of the lunar surface. With this comes the challenge of preparing astronauts for their exploration activities which will take place in a next generation spacesuit. EVAs and associated training events will likely take a physical toll as the result of the human-spacesuit interaction and exertion. Prior to EVAs conducted on the lunar surface, astronauts will conduct hundreds of tests in environments simulating aspects of their mission. This ongoing surveillance program collects data on astronaut training to enable early detection of suited injury trends to optimize human performance. A survey, entered into the Suited User Incident Tracking System, is administered to astronauts and test subjects immediately before, during, after, and 48 hours following each suited test. The survey contains information on subject preparedness, specific suit components used, and physical issues experienced. Issues are assigned a body region, pain score, symptoms, and signs. This data gives valuable insight into spacesuit fit, mission concept of operations, and fidelity of training analogs among others. Most importantly, the data gathered will be used to quantify the physical effect of the spacesuit exposure on the suited occupant. Issue rates are computed for each body region to show the occurrence of issues per exposure, and pain score shows the severity of issues experienced during training. Data are collected longitudinally and compared across suit types, allowing for comparison of ongoing planetary training operations to microgravity training conducted over several decades in the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). Data shows a shift from issues historically experienced with the EMU in the upper extremity during microgravity operations to a relatively higher percentage of issues occurring in the lower extremity and torso regions. Furthermore, issue rates during training with suit analogs, devices designed to simulate the experience of operating an EVA suit, have at times been twice those reported during runs in full pressurized suits. Potentially influential variables include duration of suit exposure, tasks performed while suited, and purpose of the suit exposure. The surveillance program aims to identify which body regions are impacted by issues during training events while understanding common symptoms, signs, and pain experienced with these issues. The goal of the program is to inform performance optimization for future lunar missions through modes such as design adjustments, physical preparedness plans, and countermeasure utilization.

Presenting Author: Caroline Howes KBR

Presenting Author Biography: Caroline is a Human Performance Engineer at Johnson Space Center with KBR, within the Anthropometry, Injury Biomechanics, and Ergonomics Laboratory, where she works on spaceflight injury prevention and projects pertaining to performance optimization. She previously worked for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory working on experimental and analytical efforts pertaining to warfighter protection. Caroline holds a bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in biomechanics, and a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Authors:

Caroline Howes KBR
Thomas Oswald KBR
Jocelyn Murray KBR
Rachel Thompson KBR
Aaron Drake KBR
Nate Newby KBR