Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit 11 Foot Vacuum Chamber Upgrades Test Results

The Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) uncrewed 11 foot vacuum chamber
testing evaluated the capabilities of the 11 foot vacuum chamber facility to support advanced
spacesuit testing. The government reference design xEMU spacesuit provided a high-fidelity
test article to demonstrate 11 foot vacuum chamber capabilities which included: gas loading
of the chamber at varying simulated metabolic rates and open loop suit abort operations,
Intravehicular Activity (IVA) vacuum access, consumables recharge, IVA vehicle-provided
thermal loop cooling, and IVA vehicle-provided power. To demonstrate the xEMU airlock
operations transitioning from IVA to EVA conditions without a test subject in the suit, test
support equipment was developed to remotely actuate both the Exploration, Servicing, and
Cooling Umbilical (ESCU) and the vacuum access umbilical. This test also evaluated the
performance of the Exploration Portable Life Support System (xPLSS) at vacuum conditions.
Data was collected and analyzed for carbon dioxide (CO2) scrubbing performance of the
Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) swingbed, for thermal regulation performance of the Suit Water
Membrane Evaporator (SWME), and for sensor performance across the xPLSS. This paper
will detail the findings of the testing performed with these upgrades which discussed
previously laid out in ICES-2025-342.