Short xEMU Pressure Garment Thermal Vacuum Test Results

NASA performed a thermal-vacuum test of the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) to demonstrate the performance of the government reference design in a relevant space-like environment. One of the spacesuit test articles was configurated as a Short-xEMU (SxEMU). This unmanned configuration provided an excellent test to evaluate the Exploration Portable Life Support System (xPLSS), however it posed some challenges with the Exploration Pressure Garment (xPGS) components involved due to the lack of a human wearing a Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG), which significantly contributes to the thermal performance of the suit. This paper provides an overview of the pressure garment components that made up this portion of the test article, the test configuration, test results, and lessons learned from this very unique spacesuit test.