Energy utilization rates during shuttle extravehicular activities

The work rates or energy utilization rates during EVA are major factors in sizing of life support systems. These rates also provide a measure of ease of EVA and its cost in crew fatigue. From the first Shuttle EVA on the STS-6 mission in 1983, we have conducted 59 man-EVA and 341 man-hours of EVA. E...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta astronautica 1995-10, Vol.36 (8), p.595-599
Main Authors: Waligora, J.M., Kumar, K.V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerospace Medicine
Energy Metabolism
Equipment Design
Extravehicular Activities
Extravehicular Activity
Fatigue - etiology
Humans
Life Support Systems - instrumentation
Metabolic rates
Oxygen Consumption
Space Flight - instrumentation
Space life sciences
Space shuttle
Space Suits
Weightlessness
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Summary:The work rates or energy utilization rates during EVA are major factors in sizing of life support systems. These rates also provide a measure of ease of EVA and its cost in crew fatigue. From the first Shuttle EVA on the STS-6 mission in 1983, we have conducted 59 man-EVA and 341 man-hours of EVA. Energy utilization rates have been measured on each of these EVA. Metabolic rate was measured during each EVA using oxygen utilization corrected for suit leakage. From 1981–1987, these data were available for average data over the EVA or over large segments of the EVA. Since 1987, EVA oxygen utilization data were available at 2-minute intervals. The average metabolic rate on Shuttle EVA (194 kcal/hr.) has been significantly lower than metabolic rates during Apollo and Skylab missions. Peak rates have been below design levels, infrequent, and of short duration. The data suggest that the energy cost of tasks may be inversely related to the degree of training for the task. The data provide insight on the safety margins provided by life support designs and on the energy cost of Station construction EVA.
ISSN:0094-5765
1879-2030
DOI:10.1016/0094-5765(95)00147-6