FIT HSF Lab is one of the first university laboratories providing fundamental education and training for intra-vehicular activity (IVA) spacesuit operations. IVA spacesuit is a technology used for orbital flights in critical phases during ascent and descent primarily. It is a personal backup system that provides a short duration personal pressurized envelope in life critical situations inside a space vehicle. IVA suits may be used for both suborbital and orbital flights as a backup life-supporting system.
HSF Lab Spacesuit Experience is available to general public that has personal or professional interest in enhancing their knowledge and skills in space suit operations. Each experience level requires different amount of learning and training time. Participants interested in Spacesuit Operator experience are required to pass a free non-invasive FIT HSF Lab medical examination. Our crew works with an approved FIT Institutional Review Board protocol that ensures maximum safety of the spacesuit operations.
Class I. Spacesuit Operator Experience grants to its barer following skills:
- Medically approved for hyperbaric environments operations up to 2psi pressure differential
- Donning and doffing an IVA spacesuit with a support of HSF Lab Safety Officer
- Able to pressurize and depressurize the spacesuit and stabilize the pressure
- Able to operate the spacesuit performing basic movements and communication
- Able to operate the spacesuit in unpressurized and pressurized configuration
Higher experience classes inherit the lower class experience scope and incrementally build a robust skillset for fully autonomous spacesuit operations in simulated extreme environments.
Spacesuit Operator Class I. and higher class experience are suitable for:
- prospective commercial human spaceflight transportation participants
- vehicle systems developers
- Vehicle or simulation systems crew
- HSF researchers
- Human-System Integration specialists
- Spaceflight enthusiasts who would like to experience IVA spacesuit environment
Experience prices range between $250 (FIT student) and $800 (general public) depending on the type of the experience that is directly related to the training duration and the spacesuit time. Experience involving the spacecraft simulator are priced individually.
The duration of the Class I Spacesuit Operator experience training is 3h including the spacesuit operations time (~20-30 minutes at 2 psi).
Contact us for more details and scheduling:
Ondrej Doule, Ph.D.
Image above depicts the Class III and higher experience training that are utilizing also the FIT HSF Lab Adaptive Spaceship Cockpit Simulator (ASCS). The Spacesuit Operator's skillset is enhanced to control a simulated space vessel in a motion simulator that places the participant in a microgravity simulated environment by positioning the vessel's cockpit in head-down-tilt orientation while enabling a multi-directional force feedback. This orientation simulates microgravity environment by increase of intracranial pressure (pressure in head that astronauts feel when in microgravity). Every Class III+ candidate therefore has to undergo also a brief head-down-tilt training to be able to operate the ASCS.
