EVA Notes

EVA requirements

We'll need handrails all over our Lunar Transfer Vehicle. There is at least one zero-g EVA in the reference mission, when the crew transfers from the Ascent Stage to the LTV.

Surface EVA is, of course, critical to the mission. We want to put our design elegance into surface EVA.

Airlocks

For the LTV, the crew will depressurize the whole module to go EVA. For the initial habitat, we build an airlock into one end of the module by adding an interior bulkhead with a hatch.

Do we need a pump on the first flight, or shall we just blow down the airlock and waste the gas?

Space Suits

This is a major cost item in the budget because I think we're going to have to develop a new suit for our crew. The Shuttle suit won't do for lunar surface operations; it lacks mobility in the lower extremeties. In contrast, the Apollo suit lacks dexterity in the arms and gloves. The space suit is one area where we need to marry the new developments to the old.

Initially at least, we'll probably custom-build suits for each crewmember's individual body size as they did in the Apollo program. This adds some cost, but unlike NASA we don't have to worry about suiting up 150 individual astronauts for training and space operations.

Tools and lights

NASA has a standard tool catalog with quite an array of gizmos and contraptions, most of which we won't need if we design our spacecraft right. The great majority of Shuttle EVA operations are carried out with just a socket wrench and a power tool using the same 7/16" hex socket.