Testing of a Novel IVA Space Suit

Safe and routine flight operations at extreme altitude generally require crew and passengers to wear a pressure suit to enable them to survive in case of failure of the cabin pressurization system. Current suits that meet this requirement are very expensive, heavy, and often restrict mobility needed to complete research tasks, continue flight, or descend safely to a survivable altitude. An affordable suit that meets all flight requirements will greatly enhance the safety and efficacy of such flights. Final Frontier Design’s intra-vehicular activity (IVA) space suit is designed to do exactly that, and was tested through a series of parabolic flights supported by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program. Testing included comparative human-in-the-loop data of subject performance in 1 g and 0 g, and both suited and unsuited. Data collected included metabolic and biometric data, suited range of motion, and subject comfort. End users for the IVA suit design could include NASA, orbital flight providers such as SpaceX, Sierra Nevada, Boeing, and suborbital flight providers including Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.