000919(01)DevonSuit.jpg
Front of the hard upper torso (HUT) and helmet. The right-side fittings
go the the simulated life support system in the backpack.
000919(02)DevonSuit.jpg
Emergency helmet release mechanism - looks like you pull up the velcro tab,
release the pip pin, and the helmet releases.
000919(03)DevonSuit.jpg
Frontal view of the suit. The blue stuff seems to be an overlaid thermal
cover - I don't know why it's only on one leg.
000919(04)DevonSuit.jpg
Closeup of the HUT front left side. Looks to be quick disconnects for fluids
in the center, some sort of control upper left, and the electrical connector
lower left. (I felt like I was taking pictures all over the place - now
I wish I had taken more, and more closeups!)
000919(05)DevonSuit.jpg
Clearly not a pressure suit glove - these appeared to be thick woven cotton
gloves. If you check the field pictures below, these are probably just for
display purposes.
000919(06)DevonSuit.jpg
Side view of the HUT. Like most modern suit designs, it uses a hemispherical
helmet integral to the HUT. Comments from the field trials addressed the
lack of visibility straight down due to the helmet angle and HUT - you'd
like to be able to see where you're putting your feet!
000919(07)DevonSuit.jpg
I suspect the lower blob is a secondary life support system - it appears
that only the upper, larger backpack is the primary life support system
,and is changed out from the accompanying rover.
000919(08)DevonSuit.jpg
My guess is that these are supposed to double as fluid tubing carrying oxygen
(and water?) between the HUT and PLSS, and also is a mounting pivot to allow
the unit to be swung forward for changing. It would still be awkward, and
I suspect it couldn't be done without help.
000919(09)DevonSuit.jpg
Not much to add - that's a (fake) shuttle EMU in the background.
000919(10)DevonSuit.jpg
Side view from the right
000919(11)DevonSuit.jpg
I found this to be very interesting - a double helmet! You can see the inner
hemisphere coming out from the inner edge of the helmet mounting ring, and
the outer one attached to the outer circumference. A nice feature, particularly
if you're in danger of falling forward onto rocks. (I suspect operationally
the inner one would be the pressure-bearing helmet, and the outer one would
be for abrasion and protection. This function was performed on Apollo by
the external visor assembly, which you would need here, too, to accommodate
changing lighting conditions.)
000919(12)DevonSuit.jpg
I guess this is supposed to be a bearing assembly in the upper leg. There
don't seem to be any waist or hip bearings, so it's not clear what good
this one will do.
000920(01)DevonSuit.jpg
Overview of the suit and rover - provides a size reference for the rover,
anyway.
000920(03)DevonSuit.jpg
Closeup of the tubes running into the backpack. Since the cross-pipe blends
into the two that come around and mate into the HUT, it's not clear that
these are directly supposed to carry fluids, or if they might just be structure
and protection with internal piping.
000920(04)DevonSuit.jpg
Upper arm assembly. There seems to be a skye (shoulder) bearing, and an
upper arm bearing. There would have to be a pitch articulation between the
two. A close examination reveals that the outer securing rings (with the
bolt patterns) are rapid prototype outputs. Shoulders are one of the suit
parts that are a heck of a lot easier if it's not really going to be pressurized.
000920(05)DevonSuit.jpg
Closeup of the upper leg bearing(?) - it looks to me like the extra bulk
around the thighs would be deleterious to walking.
071400_01.jpg
Devon Island - this is not a suit picture, but these ATVs are used for transportation,
and are analogous to an astronaut support rover.
072400_03.jpg
Suit donning station - appears to be based on a couple of stepladders.
072400_04.jpg
The handle at top is to aid the wearer in ingress/egress. You can see the
background through the bubble helmet here - this (and other pictures) leads
me to believe that this backpack may hinge at the bottom, and the wearer
slides down from the top. I can't really believe that (for those of us who
are pullup-challenged, egress would be a killer), but I haven't seen anything
showing a side hinge or a picture of an entry in progress.
072400_05.jpg
Some shots of walking around at a geology site. Clearly, this is a challenge
in normal clothes, and a real bear in a suit. (And much worse in a real
pressurized suit!)
072600_03.jpg
You can get an idea that shadows will make vision tough in a lot of areas.
072600_04.jpg
Looks like fun, doesn't it?
072600_05.jpg
Based on the pose of her head, you can see she's straining to see down at
her feet. This is an interesitng problem in suit design!
072600_06.jpg
Notice that the backpack support tubes are painted white, instead of the
exposed metal in the AIAA display. There are also blue rings around the
skye joint, and in fact it appears here that the arms are not actually connected
to the HUT. The backpack is also different, and clearly empty - not surprising
if you have to walk around on rocks in Earth gravity.
080300_06.jpg
There are a number of pictures taken without the helmet. I wonder if they
had some capability to circulate air around the helmet - from limited MARS
suit experience, I can tell you that you could only stand having the helmet
on a short time without some ventilation and cooling! (Of course, in northern
Canada cooling might not have been as much of a problem...) Also, these
appear to be real (or at least more realistic) suit gloves, as compared
to the cotton gloves in the display.
080300_07.jpg
You can see here that both arm bearings have the blue ring. I don't know
if this is cosmetic, or indicative of a different design, or what. (It does
look more like a real arm segment attachment to the suit in this picture.)
080300_08.jpg
Using the ATV as a transport for the suited subject. JSC field trials indicate
that this is a very important function for an EVA support rover. I really
don't think you want to have to swing a leg over a saddle to sit down in
the operational version.