>> So a lot of the work being done these days onboard the
International Space Station,
not only to continue scientific research and things like that,
but also to prepare us for what's coming next,
exploration to very far off destinations, asteroids, Mars,
Moon, all these places we're really excited to go.
And while there is a lot of work being done in space,
there is also a lot of work being done
down here on the ground.
One of those projects taking place here
at the Johnson Space Center is the development
of the spacesuits that future Orion travelers might
be wearing.
Joining me now to talk about the work
that is taking place is NASA Astronaut, Rex Walheim,
who is the Chief of the Exploration Branch inside
of the astronaut office, works pretty heavily with Orion
and has been very integral in a lot of these tests.
Now, first off, the suit --
let's talk about the suit real quick.
>> Sure.
>> It's a very familiar suit.
>> Yes, it is.
>> Same orange, pumpkin suit that they wore on the shuttle.
>> Yep, and that's why the term MACES,
or the Modified ACES suit, which is a off-shoot
of the suit we wore during the space shuttle's launch
and entry phases,
so the modified portion is what we're working on to try
to get it to do more than it did during the shuttle program.
>> And that more than you guys were working --
so it was a launch and entry suit.
>> Yes.
>> So the astronauts, they only wore it
when they were launching off and when they were coming back down.
>> You bet.
>> And what do we want to add to it?
>> So we want to add the capability of doing an EVA
or a spacewalk with this suit, which is a tricky proposition
because it was designed originally as an ACES suit,
as just launch and entry.
So it could hold pressure, but it wasn't meant
to give you the mobility to do all the types
of tasks you would generally do on a spac walk.
>> Now, why would we want to just, I mean,
because traditionally, we've had two suits.
We've had the launch and entry and we've had the great big EMU,
the great big, white, spacewalking suit.
Why would we just want one?
>> You bet.
Now, if I had my druthers,
I would take my white EMU spacewalking suit
with me wherever I go in space.
However, you know, with the Orion program,
we're going to beyond low Earth orbits.
We're going out to these deep space destinations.
That takes a lot of thrust and a lot of gas to get out there
so weight is a big issue.
So anything we can do to reduce the weight, the launch weight
and the landing weight actually, also, is very important.
So if we can make a suit that can do both the launch
and entry, which the orange ACES suit did in the shuttle era
and also is able to carry out the EVA
or the spacewalk functions that our big,
white spacewalking suit did,
then we can save a tremendous amount of weight.
>> So, very real reason to be doing this work
and you've been doing some pretty cool tests in the pool.
We'll get to those in a second.
What's some of the work that you guys have been doing
up until this point?
>> Sure.
>> You know, to prepare to kind
of advance the suit to where it is now.
>> Well, we've been taking an incremental approach.
We've been doing step by step,
and the first step is we put ourselves in the old ACES suit
and figured out where the pressure points were and things
like that and it was pretty tricky to work in that
and the smart guys in the suit labs, they figured out, well,
if you sized it differently, if you kept it as tight as you can,
it's going to be a lot more comfortable and you're going
to be able to be able to move around a lot better.
So we started with that and then one
of the things we quickly realized was
that the gloves were not good enough.
The gloves we used in the ACES suit when we were on the launch
and entry, they're meant
to be used non-pressurized unless there is an emergency,
and then they would pressurize.
But they do not have very good tactile feel
when you're pressurized.
So we realized quickly that these gloves aren't going
to be good enough to do a spacewalk.
So we switched out what are called Phase 6 gloves,
and those are our great spacewalking gloves that we use
on our white EMU spacesuits.
So we adapted the ACES to be able
to handle those kind of gloves.
There is also some important things we need to do
with the life controls, life support systems.
So the ACES suit on the shuttle, it flows overboard.
It's what we call an open loop,
so it would flow the air you breathe
out overboard or into the cabin.
Whereas, you can't do that on a spacewalk because you do
so much oxygen, that it would be prohibitive.
So they modified the ACES
so that it has a closed circulation system
so that it can recycle the air
so that you're not losing all that oxygen.
>> So now you're kind of mirroring a little bit
of what the EMU all ready does.
>> Exactly.
Exactly. So now we had the closed loop system.
We had the Phase 6 gloves.
Well, one of the other things we need is the ability
to stabilize ourselves at a worksite, and to do that,
we commonly on our spacewalks
on the Space Station use what's called a portable foot restraint
or a PFR.
And a portable foot restraint, you just put your feet in there,
you put them under a toe clip
and you clip your heels underneath a clip
and you can stay there with both hands free and be able to work.
The ACES suit, the original one with the shuttle,
you couldn't do that and so one
of the most recent modifications we did was add these boots
from the EMU so that we would be able
to use these portable foot restraints.
So we added that and that proved
out to be a really useful addition.
Now then, even if we had these good gloves and good boots,
another problem we had with the ACES, it just isn't very mobile.
So we knew that from the start, that we were going
to have a problem with mobility because when it is pressurized,
it's just not an EMU where you can move it really nicely.
So we've added some arm bearings to be able
to move the arms a little bit and so
on the test we did last week, we had two suits in the water
for the first time, two modified ACES suits for the first time,
and I worked with Dan Burbank, and he had the modified ACES
without the arm bearings and I had them with the arm bearings.
So we got to compare that
and see what those arm bearings do for you.
And then next week we'll get in the pool again, Dan and I,
and I get the suit without the arm bearings
and Dan gets the arm bearings.
So --
>> We actually have some of the video from last week as well
so we can see you guys working in the pool.
I mean, walk me through.
What are we looking at right now?
>> So you see the familiar orange suit that we wore
on the shuttle, but you also see a bunch of white objects.
One of the big ones you see on my legs there,
and Dan's legs, are weights.
We have to have weights to keep us neutrally buoyant.
But then you'll see, a little bit below,
you'll see we've got the white boots on.
Those are the spacesuit, the EMU boots and we have white gloves,
which are our Phase 6 gloves also.
And so, it's kind
of a combination there of the two suits.
And here, we're testing our mobility basically.
We're getting into the in and out
of the Space Station airlock.
Now, it's not really a task we would do on an Orion mission
to an asteroid, but it's a typical task we've trained
on many times before so we can test our mobility
and see how well we can move around there.
And again, here we're doing some more translation tasks,
seeing how well you can move
around with these new arm bearings
and with your Phase 6 gloves and your boots.
>> And I remember you talking a little bit about, you know,
getting into the pool.
It's an important step because you kind
of learn things about the suit.
>> You bet.
>> That you didn't even think about.
>> Right. And it's a big trade-off.
It is not an easy thing to go to one suit from two suits.
The reason we had two suits was because they were specialized
and they each had their own specific function.
So, when you're trying to combine two suits,
it gets a little tricky.
Obviously, when you have only one suit,
when you're in the launch phase, you're going
to be unpressurized nominally.
So normally you wouldn't have it pressured, so you want the suit
to fit comfortably when you're just sitting
in the rocket during the launch phase.
And so that's important.
>> Because you're in there for a couple hours.
>> You're going to be there for many, many hours.
But then, if you're going to do a spacewalk, that comfortable,
loose-fitting suit may not be great for doing a spacewalk
when it's pressurized because the suit bulges out
and it tends to extend.
>> Not going to be able to move, right.
>> Now you can't move as well, so it can be a bit of a problem.
So you've got to have a bit of a compromise,
and I found that out a little bit the hard way
on the last test, was that I did a suit fit check before this run
and so I thought I had a good suit fit check.
They originally tried me in one suit that was very, very tight
and I was saying this is a little bit too tight.
I don't think I'm going to be able to do that.
So they went to a longer suit, which felt better
when it was unpressurized, but then after a while in the water,
I found out, it was just too long
and it was not fitting me well at all.
So we're going to have to go back to the drawing board,
get me a smaller suit, see if we can optimize it
where it doesn't hurt when it's unpressurized,
but you're still able to function in it
when it's pressurized and you're doing a spacewalk.
>> And so what are some of the steps kind of going forward?
Or what did you guys really -- well, first off,
what did you guys really focus on last week?
What were the major elements of last week's test?
>> The major element last week, we were just trying
to tell whether we could work together as a team
because it was the first time we had two people in the pool
at the same time with this new Modified ACES suit.
It was really the first time we've tested the new suit
together, two of them in the pool,
since we started the Space Shuttle Program's EMU,
so it's been a long time.
So, we just see, can we work together?
And then we continued to evaluate the new boots,
the Phase 6 gloves, and then, since I had the wrist bearings
and Dan didn't, we could see what kind
of differences that made.
And so we worked all those things together
and did some typical tasks we would do on the space station
as kind of basically just benchmarking what we know we can
do in the EMU and how hard is that to do it in the ACES suit.
>> Okay, and what are some of the things you guys are going
to be focusing on going forward, or what are some
of the cooler tests you guys might have coming up?
>> Well, so we're going to be swapping suits
so we can really test out what the function
of that arm bearings is.
I really like those arm bearings and when they take them away,
I'm sure I'm going to say, hey, that wasn't such a great idea.
So we'll test that and then we're going
to start doing more representative tasks
of an asteroid retrieval mission, which is what we want
to use this suit for potentially.
Could you do some of the tasks we expect to do
on an asteroid retrieval mission?
>> Okay, well, Rex Walheim, NASA Astronaut and Chief
of the Exploration Branch, again, talking to us
about the Modified ACES suit work being done here
at the Johnson Space Center.
Rex, thanks for coming on.
>> My pleasure, Dan.
>> It's really a cool suit.
Good luck in the pool next week.
I hope Dan doesn't run too many circles around you with
>> That's right.
>> those new arm bearings.
>> All right.
>> Thanks.
>> Thanks, Dan. ------------------------------107eb9476beb--