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Laundry Study for a Lunar OutpostIn support of the Constellation Program, which will return humans to the moon and establish an Outpost, NASA has conducted an analysis of crew clothing and laundry options. Single-use or "disposable" clothing has been used from Apollo until International Space Station (ISS) missions, meaning that clothes were worn for the whole mission or thrown away when they became too dirty to wear any longer. This is justified for short duration missions; however, as the Constellation mission will last much longer and each individual Outpost mission is expected to last up to 180 days, mission goals and launch penalties for mass and volume may lead to a different conclusion. Furthermore, the habitat atmosphere pressure and therefore oxygen volume percentage will be different from ISS or Shuttle. Almost daily EVA sorties will be a norm during Outpost exploration missions. All of these factors will have impacts on selection of crew clothing and laundry options for Outpost missions. Mass and volume estimates for disposable crew clothing have been shown as a major penalty in long-duration manned space exploration missions in previous analyses. Assuming disposable clothing like ISS, Equivalent System Mass (ESM) of crew clothing and hygiene towels was estimated to be 11,000 kg or about 11% of total life support system ESM for a 10-year Lunar Outpost mission with 4 crew members. Ways to reduce this clothing penalty, which are discussed in this paper, include: a) Reduce clothing supply rate through using clothes made of advanced fabrics; b) Reduce daily usage rate by extending its use duration before disposing; and c) Use laundry and reusable clothing. The report summarizes recent research efforts in advanced clothing, proposed clothing supply rates for Exploration missions, results of a trade-off study between disposable clothing and laundry, and conclusions and suggestions for Constellation Program clothing.
Document ID
20090010398
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Ewert, Michael
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Jeng, Frank
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2009
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Report/Patent Number
JSC-17326
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Environmental Systems
Location: Pennsylvania
Country: United States
Start Date: July 12, 2009
End Date: July 16, 2009
Sponsors: Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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