The Design and Development of an Extravehicular, Stratospheric Exploration (StratEx) Pressure Suit

Abstract

In October of 2014 a Stratospheric Exploration (StratEx) technical team comprised of ILC Dover, Paragon Space Development Corporation (SDC), and United Parachute Technologies (UPT) demonstrated an extravehicular pressure suit capable of prolonged exposure to stratospheric conditions by successfully launching, loitering, and recovering a manned StratEx suit to stratospheric, or near stratospheric altitudes, on three separate occasions. This paper will discuss the design and development of the pressure suit portion of the flight system including the challenges associated with loads management, environmental control, pilot accessibility of control systems, and design for rapid system turnaround. Component and system level testing is reviewed and lessons learned, along with suggestions for future flight systems, are presented.