Suitport and Tether Operational Simulations for the 2013 Haughton Mars Project

UTC Aerospace Systems participated in the 2013 Haughton Mars Project field studies on Devon Island, Canada by testing a new version of their suitport concept and a novel suit tether system. The suitport concept integrated lessons learned from prior studies and upgraded the user interface to use pneumatic actuation. Pneumatic actuation of the suitport and other minor upgrades were successful in improving the donning and doffing process for most users. The tether system used an external waist bearing hooked to four retractable cables that were anchored in a square pattern to form a work area. These features allowed the test subject to conduct geological work without frequent re-clipping, nor unintended entanglement in the tethers.