Soft Helmet Design for a Launch/Entry Space Suit

摘要

This paper describes the design and development of a soft helmet for a launch/entry space suit. The choice of helmet for a given suit/vehicle is driven by multiple factors, including stowage mass and volume, field of view, suit-seat integration and head/helmet/headrest coupling, head-borne weight, head protection and crew survivability, unpressurized and pressurized comfort, ease of use, and functionality under nominal and emergency operating modes, among others. Multiple head enclosure concepts are discussed and traded in this context, including conformal and non-conformal helmets, and various soft helmet architectures. A soft helmet with integral hard visor, and openable pressure sealing closure, is identified as an optimal launch/entry baseline design for future commercial and government spaceflight applications. The paper concludes with a detailed description of the chosen soft helmet design, which drastically reduces stowage volume and suit mass, while preserving field of view, integrated communications, CO2 washout and crew protection.