Portable Life Support System
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Portable Life Support System
A primary (or portable or personal) life support system (or subsystem) (PLSS), is a device connected to an astronaut or cosmonaut's spacesuit, which allows extra-vehicular activity with maximum freedom, independent of a spacecraft's life support system. A PLSS is generally worn like a backpack. The functions performed by the PLSS include: * Regulating suit pressure * Providing breathable oxygen * Removing carbon dioxide, humidity, odors, and contaminants from breathing oxygen * Cooling and recirculating oxygen through the pressure garment, and water through a Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment or Liquid Cooling Garment. * Two-way voice communication * Display or telemetry of suit health parameters * Telemetry of an indicator of the wearer's immediate health (e.g. heart rate) The air handling function of a PLSS is similar to that of a diving rebreather, in that exhaled gases are recycled into the breathing gas in a closed loop. When used in a microgravity environment, a sepa ...
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A7L Plss
The Apollo/Skylab space suit is a class of space suits used in Apollo and Skylab missions. The names for both the Apollo and Skylab space suits were Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The Apollo EMUs consisted of a Pressure Suit Assembly (PSA) aka "suit" and a Portable Life Support System (PLSS) that was more commonly called the "backpack". The A7L was the PSA model used on the Apollo 7 through 14 missions. The subsequent Apollo 15-17 lunar missions, Skylab, and Apollo–Soyuz used A7LB pressure suits. Additionally, these pressure suits varied by program usage. For the Skylab EMU, NASA elected to use an umbilical life support system named the Astronaut Life Support Assembly. Basic design The base Apollo EMU design took over three years to produce. At the beginning of the Apollo program, the Apollo spacesuit had not yet received its final EMU NASA held a competition for the Apollo SSA contract in March 1962. Each competition proposal had to demonstrate all the abiliti ...
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Volumetric Flow Rate
In physics and engineering, in particular fluid dynamics, the volumetric flow rate (also known as volume flow rate, or volume velocity) is the volume of fluid which passes per unit time; usually it is represented by the symbol (sometimes ). It contrasts with mass flow rate, which is the other main type of fluid flow rate. In most contexts a mention of ''rate of fluid flow'' is likely to refer to the volumetric rate. In hydrometry, the volumetric flow rate is known as '' discharge''. Volumetric flow rate should not be confused with volumetric flux, as defined by Darcy's law and represented by the symbol , with units of m3/(m2·s), that is, m·s−1. The integration of a flux over an area gives the volumetric flow rate. The SI unit is cubic metres per second (m3/s). Another unit used is standard cubic centimetres per minute (SCCM). In US customary units and imperial units, volumetric flow rate is often expressed as cubic feet per second (ft3/s) or gallons per minute (either ...
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Activated Carbon
Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, is a form of carbon commonly used to filter contaminants from water and air, among many other uses. It is processed (activated) to have small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption (which is not the same as absorption) or chemical reactions. Activation is analogous to making popcorn from dried corn kernels: popcorn is light, fluffy, and has a surface area that is much larger than the kernels. ''Activated'' is sometimes replaced by ''active''. Due to its high degree of microporosity, one gram of activated carbon has a surface area in excess of as determined by gas adsorption. Charcoal, before activation, has a specific surface area in the range of . An activation level sufficient for useful application may be obtained solely from high surface area. Further chemical treatment often enhances adsorption properties. Activated carbon is usually derived from waste products such as coconut husks; waste ...
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Water Vapor
(99.9839 °C) , - , Boiling point , , - , specific gas constant , 461.5 J/( kg·K) , - , Heat of vaporization , 2.27 MJ/kg , - , Heat capacity , 1.864 kJ/(kg·K) Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous phase of water. It is one state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Water vapor is transparent, like most constituents of the atmosphere. Under typical atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously generated by evaporation and removed by condensation. It is less dense than most of the other constituents of air and triggers convection currents that can lead to clouds. Being a component of Earth's hydrosphere and hydrologic cycle, it is particularly abundant in Earth's atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas and warming feedback, contributing more to total greenhouse effect than non-condensable gases such as carbon dioxide an ...
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Oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as with other compounds. Oxygen is Earth's most abundant element, and after hydrogen and helium, it is the third-most abundant element in the universe. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen, a colorless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula . Diatomic oxygen gas currently constitutes 20.95% of the Earth's atmosphere, though this has changed considerably over long periods of time. Oxygen makes up almost half of the Earth's crust in the form of oxides.Atkins, P.; Jones, L.; Laverman, L. (2016).''Chemical Principles'', 7th edition. Freeman. Many major classes of organic molecules in living organisms contain oxygen atoms, such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and fats, as ...
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Hard Upper Torso
A Hard Upper Torso Assembly, or HUT, is a central component of several space suits, notably Roscosmos' Orlan space suit, Orlan and NASA's Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The fiberglass HUT forms a rigid enclosure about the upper body of the occupant, providing pressure containment for this part of the body. The HUT incorporates structural attachment points for the arms, Lower Torso Assembly (LTA), helmet, chest-mounted Display and Controls Module (DCM), and Primary Life Support System, Primary Life Support Subsystem (PLSS) backpack. The original HUT design for the EMU, first used in 1980, included bellowed shoulder bearings, which allowed for variation in the angle of the shoulder bearings. This allowed for one configuration to ease donning of the suit, and a different configuration to allow maximum mobility during Extravehicular activity, EVA. However, the limited life of the bellows prompted a redesign in 1990 to a fixed shoulder bearing angle and position, referred to as ...
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Hamilton Sundstrand
Hamilton Sundstrand was an American globally active corporation that manufactured and supported aerospace and industrial products for worldwide markets. A subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, it was headquartered in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The company was formed from the merger of Hamilton Standard and Sundstrand Corporation in 1999. In 2012, Hamilton Sundstrand was merged with Goodrich Corporation to form UTC Aerospace Systems. In 2018, UTC Aerospace Systems and Rockwell Collins combined to form Collins Aerospace. History On June 10, 1999, Hamilton Standard and the Sundstrand Corp. were merged, forming Hamilton Sundstrand. Hamilton Sundstrand traces its roots to the founding of the Sundstrand Corp. in 1905 and Hamilton Standard in 1910. In early 2001, Claverham Ltd was sold to Hamilton Sundstrand. On 2 January 2008, Hamilton Sundstrand said it would commercialize the concentrated solar power tower technology and corresponding molten salt storage system develope ...
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Extravehicular Mobility Unit
The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is an independent anthropomorphic spacesuit that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for astronauts performing extravehicular activity (EVA) in Earth orbit. Introduced in 1981, it is a two-piece semi-rigid suit, and is currently one of two types of EVA spacesuits used by crew members on the International Space Station (ISS), the other being the Russian Orlan space suit. It was used by NASA's Space Shuttle astronauts prior to the end of the Shuttle program in 2011. Suit components The EMU, like the Apollo/Skylab A7L spacesuit, was the result of 21 years of research and development. It consists of a Hard Upper Torso (HUT) assembly, a Primary Life Support System (PLSS) which incorporates the life support and electrical systems, arm sections, gloves, an Apollo-style "bubble" helmet, the Extravehicular Visor Assembly (EVVA), and a soft Lower Torso Assembly (LTA), incorporating the Body Seal Closure (BS ...
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International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS programme evolved from the Space Station ''Freedom'', a 1984 American proposal to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting station, and the contemporaneous Soviet/Russian '' Mir-2'' proposal from 1976 with similar aims. The ISS is the ninth space station to ...
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Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development. The first ( STS-1) of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights (STS-5) beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. They launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted science experiments in orbit, participated in the Shuttle-''Mir'' program with Russia, and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS). ...
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