The “Variable Vector Countermeasure Suit (V2Suit) for Space Habitation and Exploration” is a novel system concept that provides a platform for integrating sensors and actuators with daily astronaut intravehicular activities to improve health and performance, while reducing the mass and volume of the physiologic adaptation countermeasure systems, as well as the required exercise time during long-duration space exploration missions. The V2Suit system leverages wearable kinematic monitoring technology and uses inertial measurement units (IMUs) and control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) within miniaturized modules placed on body segments to provide a “viscous resistance” during movements against a specified direction of “down”—initially as a countermeasure to the sensorimotor adaptation performance decrements that manifest themselves while living and working in microgravity and during gravitational transitions during long-duration spaceflight, including post-flight recovery and rehabilitation. Several aspects of the V2Suit system concept were explored and simulated prior to developing a brassboard prototype for technology demonstration. This included a system architecture for identifying the key components and their interconnects, initial identification of key human-system integration challenges, development of a simulation architecture for CMG selection and parameter sizing, and the detailed mechanical design and fabrication of a module. The brassboard prototype demonstrates closed-loop control from “down” initialization through CMG actuation, and provides a research platform for human performance evaluations to mitigate sensorimotor adaptation, as well as a tool for determining the performance requirements when used as a musculoskeletal deconditioning countermeasure. This type of countermeasure system also has Earth benefits, particularly in gait or movement stabilization and rehabilitation.

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Pressure suits allow pilots and astronauts to survive in extreme environments at the edge of Earth's atmosphere and in the vacuum of space. One obstacle that pilots and astronauts face is that gas-pressurized suits stiffen when pressurized and greatly limit user mobility. As a result, a critical need exists to quantify and improve the mobility characteristics of pressure suits. A historical survey and critique of pressure-suit testing methodologies is first presented, followed by the results of recent pressure suit testing conducted at the MIT Man-Vehicle Laboratory (MVL). MVL researchers, in cooperation with the David Clark Company (Worcester, MA), used an anthropometrically-realistic robotic space suit tester to quantify pressure suit mobility characteristics of the S1034 Pilot Protective Assembly (PPA), a pressure suit worn by U-2 pilots. This suit was evaluated unpressurized, at a vent pressure of 5.5 kPa (0.8 psi), and at an emergency gauge pressure of 20.7 kPa (3 psi). Joint torque data was collected for elbow flexion/extension, shoulder flexion/extension, shoulder abduction/adduction, and knee flexion/extension motions. The aim of this study was to generate a robust baseline mobility database for the S1034 PPA to serve as a point of comparison for future pressure suit designs, and to provide recommendations for future pressure garment testing.

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