Aouda Test Campaign 17A

The Aouda Test Campaign 17A was performed on the spacesuits Aouda.X and Aouda.S between 2nd and 06th January 2017 in Innsbruck and Seefeld. Testing was done on various subsystems of the suit to either commission new items, requalify evolved systems or measure performances, ranging from thermal testing, head-up-Display, glove dexterity and so on. To provide Mars like temperatures a cryo-chamber was used to perform the tests under realistic circumstances, also a state-of-the-art radio frequency spectrum measurement was done.

Goals

• Evaluate and document selected subsystems of the Aouda spacesuit simulator for their performance and identify vulnerabilities. This includes the evaluation of selected complementary hardware items, such as the WLAN infrastructure, solar cells, a 360° camera and testing selected new operational procedures.
• Identify the need for follow-up evolutions of the Aouda spacesuit simulator in hindsight of the AMADEE-18 mission
• Provide a training opportunity for students to be part of a structured test campaign and share the fascination of Mars exploration with a wide audience.

The following tests have been conducted

Test 01: Humidity Demonstrate that the suit performs nominal under humid or light rain conditions, to avoid pre-mature test aborts on Earth
Test 02: Head-Up Display Functionalities implemented in summer 2016 performed nominal.
Test 03: Sensor Validation The sensors demonstrated their performance under various environmental conditions.
Test 04: Radition Signature This test measured the suits electromagnetic emission spectrum.
Test 05: Connectivity The range of the suit’s communication system was tested.
Test 07: Thermal Testing A cryo/heat-test evaluated the suits performance between -70° to 40° Celsius.
Test 09: Ergonomics 3d performance envelope determination
Test 11: Glove Dexterity This tests evaluated the prowess and dexterity of the Aouda glove
Test 15: Exoskeleton stress test This test analysed the ergonomics  of the exoskeleton for its next generation version.
Test 16: Tesla Coil material and electronics testing during high voltage electrostatic discharges

Partners:

• X.Bionics: provide thermal underwear for Analog Astronauts
• Alpenhotel Fall in Love: The hotel offers the cryo chamber and facility for humidity test
• 360° Fly: provide 360° cameras
• University Innsbruck Institute of Mechatronics: offer facility for radio-frequency spectrum measurements
• Tespack: provide solar cells for suit safety
• Adler Lacke: Provides material samples used on the suit and support hardware for croytests

Photos

All photos (c) OeWF (Florian Voggeneder)

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