Space Suit Materials for Use in Cryogenic Cold

One of the greatest challenges to conducting exploration and long-duration missions on Mars or the lunar surface is the development of space suit materials that can operate in these austere environments such as the Permanently Shaded Regions (PSRs) of the Moon. Operating in extreme cold without fracture is particularly challenging for polymeric materials, especially when experiencing strain from flexing. Several crosscutting materials solutions will be studied in this program to identify materials that meet the required performance metrics for application in boot outsoles, glove TMG palm pads and knee/elbow pads. Moonprint will leverage materials knowledge from previous flexible cryogenic container programs to develop materials that meet the space suit need. Proposed material solutions are able to support high strain without cracking, survive thermal shock and abrasion, resist puncture, and are readily adaptable to space suit component configurations and manufacturing technologies at commercial space suit manufacturing companies. Materials will be tested at the coupon level and component level to generate materials property data and performance data of articles tested in representative environments. Component design and manufacturing modifications will also be studied to reduce mass, improve penetration resistance, and improve space suit mobility. Materials solutions will be applicable to Mars space suits, lunar space suits, and other flexible structure technology intended for use in extreme cold.
Benefits: The materials developed in this program will target requirements for Mars and lunar space suit applications but will have broad applicability to a range of NASA missions with similar needs. Lunar suits being developed by commercial entities currently have unmet materials needs for working in PSRs, so solutions developed in this program will have a near-term impact on human-centric Artemis missions. This program will target boot outsole, glove palm pads, and knee/elbow protective pads but will also be applicable to the outer cover of the space suit which will need to flex at cryogenic temperatures and remain impervious to lunar dust. Artemis will also have a range of adjacent applications of softgoods structures which must function in PSRs without damage. These include collapsible water containers, logistics transfer bags for moving dry goods between vehicles, dust mitigation covers for robotic devices and rovers, and fluid transfer lines. All of these applications require the materials to flex and survive after being cold soaked. Similar needs will exist on Mars missions as robotic and human exploration missions increase. In addition to lunar and Mars missions, the materials developed in this program will be applicable to NASA scientific missions to planetary moons with subsurface oceans including Jupiter's Europa and Ganymede and Saturn’s Titan and Enceladus. Robotic covers, flexible robotics, and even deployable vehicles will enhance mission capabilities in the search for life in these extreme environments. NASA is paving the way for greater lunar commercial activities through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative that allows NASA and commercial entities to send science investigations and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface. As these activities mature and commercial entities begin to harvest lunar resources such as water, Helium-3, and rare earth metals, all the above-mentioned NASA application points of the new materials will become commercially required. Similarly, SpaceX has aspirations to land on Mars and materials advances from this program will be enabling for Mars space suits, habitats, rovers, robotic/rover dust covers, and fluid transfer systems in that environment. In addition, our team has experience with several terrestrial applications that would benefit from materials advancement including deployable polar habitats, and collapsible cryogenic storage tanks used for industrial inerting with nitrogen. Facilitating the fabrication of collapsible cryogenic fluid storage tanks, especially in support of the emerging Hydrogen economy, would be game changing as it would dramatically reduce transportation costs for moving empty vessels.