Methodology for Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Technology Identification, Prioritization, and Maturation

As human exploration of space expands past low earth orbit and into cislunar space and beyond, NASA’s next generation Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) system will need technologies exceeding the performance of today’s state-of-the-art system that has served the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS) well. The responsibility of the EVA System Maturation Team (SMT) is to maintain awareness of contemplated future missions and the resulting requirements of an EVA system, and to identify and prioritize the technology capabilities required to enable the EVA system to perform the proposed missions. Success is measured as all of the identified technologies being ready for flight system implementation by that system’s Preliminary Design Review (PDR). This paper discusses the methodology employed by the EVA SMT to identify, prioritize, and implement technologies for this purpose. It also includes a discussion of the current state of technology maturation and some key priorities for ensuring 1) the successful sustaining of the ISS EMU until the ISS end of life, including where ISS has and will be used as a testbed for exploration space suit technologies, 2) the completion of the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) for Orion missions, 3) the enabling of an exploration space suit for cis-lunar missions, and lastly 4) the enabling of the Mars exploration space suit for future envisioned surface operations.