• Continue my NASA research at UofL through December‒ Present work at Sullivan Nanotechnology Symposium in September and at

Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting in October‒ Publication by December

• Final Brown Fellows Project completion by December‒ Obtain Private Pilot’s License

• Return to NASA JSC for Spring 2013‒ Ocular research with Dr. Hart

• May 2013 Graduation - BS in Bioengineering, Chemistry Minor

• Medical School starting August 2013• Pursue aerospace medicine and eventually become a

NASA Flight Surgeon!

Thank you to the people at NASA JSC, the James Graham Brown Foundation, the University of Louisville, and the J.B. Speed School of Engineering for these wonderful opportunities.

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ntrs.nasa.gov

Space Suit Assembly Engineering at NASA Johnson Space Center

Ishita JainUniversity of Louisville, Department of Bioengineering, J.B. Speed School of Engineering, Louisville, KY

NASA JSC, Crew and Thermal Systems Division, Space Suit and Crew Survival Systems Branch, Houston, TX

Abstract Summer 2012 was spent in Houston, Texas at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) as an intern for the Space Suit Assembly (SSA) Engineering team. Space suits are highly complex and specially designed garments worn by astronauts as protective mechanisms against the harsh conditions of space. Without the employment of these suits, humans would not last longer than a few seconds in these extreme pressures and temperatures. Space suits provide protection from ultraviolet radiation, a means of communication, oxygen for breathing and pressurization, carbon dioxide scrubbing, and water for cooling. During this internship, I completed multiple projects for the SSA team while gaining exposure to the extraordinary work being done by NASA to further space exploration. My responsibilities ranged from redesigning the strapping mechanisms within the Mark III and Z1 prototype suits for self-donning and self-doffing to developing an inertial measurement unit system for determining human movement within a suit during extravehicular activity (EVA). I successfully gained approval for human suit testing with a new prototype glove that was designed to improve metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint mobility, and I modified and manufactured suit-related equipment in preparation for reduced gravity (RGO) flight testing of the Mark III and Z-1 suits. I was able to attend talks, participate in tours, observe suit testing, and even serve as a test subject for prototype liquid cooling garments. I spent time doing outreach work and teaching kids about space suit design. The most exciting part of this phenomenal summer was the time that I spent shadowing the NASA flight surgeon responsible for the current International Space Station (ISS) crew. As a result of this experience, I am now heavily considering a career in aerospace medicine with the goal of becoming a flight surgeon for NASA. This internship marks the completion of my second of three required engineering co-ops for the completion of my BS in bioengineering, and I hope to return to NASA in Spring 2012 for my last co-op semester.

Previous Experiences

Summer 2010• Began work at UofL as a student researcher in the

department of bioengineering‒ NASA-funded project focused on developing a

curcumin drug delivery system to protect astronauts from radiation-induced cancer

• Attended ocular biomechanics conference in London, England

• Attended biomechanics conference in SingaporeFall 2011• Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center

Internship ‒ Developed a kinetic assessment tool prototype

for quantifying forces exerted during overground stepping for spinally injured rats and mice

Winter Break 2011• Cooperative Center for Study Abroad trip to

London, England and Dublin, Ireland‒ Participated in a course comparing the health

systems of England, Ireland, and the United States

Test Readiness Review (TRR) for Final Frontier Design (FFD) Glove• A TRR formally outlines the hardware design, testing materials

and plans, and necessary safety precautions for new hardware.

• I successfully compiled and pitched a TRR that gained approval for FFD glove use with the advanced suit lab (ASL) prototype suits and glove box.

Suit Strap Redesign• I proposed and explored the implementation of a self-donnable

and self-doffable shoulder strap mechanism for application within the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV) suitport setup.

Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) System• EVA mobility testing is limited to comparing the motion of a

suit actuated by a human to the motion of a human unsuited.• I developed a system to analyze human movement within a

suit using matchbox-sized IMUs.• System implications: optimized EVA task performance,

minimized injury risk, and enhanced suit development

RGO Flight Testing Preparations• During a RGO flight, testing is performed within the cabin of a

plane as the aircraft travels along parabolic arcs, resulting in weightlessness.

• I mocked up the interior of the MMSEV surrounding the suitport to validate clearance within the MMSEV for incapacitated crew removal trials.

• I helped to develop a method for refurbishing Lexan coated rock panels used to mimic the ground surface of an asteroid during RGO testing.

Space Suit Assembly Engineering Projects

NASA Highlights

Future Plans

Other Summer Activities

Experience Outcomes

Acknowledgements

• Job Shadowing with NASA Flight Surgeon, Dr. Stephen Hart• Met Astronauts Rex Walheim, Lee Archambault, and Rob Kimbrough • Gene Kranz – Flight Director for both Apollo 11 and Apollo 13• Historic Apollo, Space Shuttle, and ISS Mission Control Tours• Dr. Christopher Kraft – NASA’s first Flight Director• Space Shuttle Mockup Tour• Deep Space Habitat Tour• ISS Mockup Tour

FinalFrontierDesign.com

• Acquired mechanical knowledge‒ Suit hardware‒ Soft good construction

• Gained exposure to various forms of suit testing‒ Vacuum Chamber B‒ RGO Flight‒ Active Response Gravity Offload System‒ Vicon Motion Capture System

• Expanded understanding of human physiology in space

• IMU poster produced for JSC Innovation Research & Development Poster Session

• Made contacts with NASA doctors – discussed paths for studying aerospace medicine

• Regulation of Metabolism in Cancer Meeting, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

• Emerging Opportunities in Space Life Sciences Meeting, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD