Specialty Fabrics Review August 2021 - 40

Ballistic fabrics can be combined
EXTREME
RISKS
iven the stakes, it's no surprise that NASA is " very, very risk
averse, " according to Daniel Klopp, director of marketing and
business development for ILC Dover's space systems division.
" It takes years of testing of any new material for it to be qualified
to NASA standards to go into space, " Klopp says. " It's impossible on
Earth to simulate everything at once that a spacesuit has to go through.
So, you can simulate one thing at a time. "
For example, a suit can be put in a vacuum chamber to simulate
pressure, into a UV chamber for exposure to the extreme UV that is
found in Space, and put through a variety of motion testing.
" One of the reasons that NASA is so risk averse is that the only time
that it really all comes together is during an actual spacewalk, " Klopp
says. " It's impossible to simulate all of those conditions here on Earth
along with the zero gravity. "
The challenge extends to suit maintenance. Klopp cites a recent example
where there was an issue with pressure in the extravehicular activity suit.
To locate the problem, the astronaut had to disassemble the garment bit by
bit. Each time a piece was replaced, the suit had to be repressurized to check
before moving on to the next section. ILC Dover designed the spacesuit with
this eventuality in mind. The next generation will offer improvements, making
it easier and quicker to identify and repair damage and to resize in space.
One consequence of the growing commercial space sector is that the
traditional relationship between NASA and ILC Dover is changing. While
NASA has until now been the sole client, the next development will see
the intellectual property owned by ILC Dover with the space agency
leasing the spacesuit from them.
ABOVE: NASA astronaut and Expedition 65 flight engineer Shane Kimbrough works
inside the U.S. Quest airlock replacing life support components inside a U.S. spacesuit.
Photo: NASA.
40 SPECIALTY FABRICS REVIEW / August 2021
with IMLI to provide additional protection
against debris. Nextel™ on the
outer layers protects against incoming
particles, with inner layers of Kevlar®
acting as a further barrier to penetration.
Applications include an advanced
thermal shielding system for cryogenic
propellant storage, exposed surfaces
of launch vehicles, micrometeoroid
shielding and spacecraft or satellite
temperature control.
WORKING WITH THE MATERIALS
Farmington, Minn.-based Aerospace
Fabrication & Materials LLC addresses
the extreme needs of the space
environment, providing protection
against temperature as well as flying
debris with products that include
MLI blankets, micrometeoroid orbital
debris (MMOD) shields, inflatables
and soft covers. The MMOD shields
are custom designed with materials
such as Beta cloth (a fiberglass-like,
fireproof material), Kevlar or Nextel
fabrics. The combination is designed to
shield and hinder penetration as well
as provide passive thermal control.
" Our biggest single technical
challenge is to efficiently layer our
stack-ups on complex shapes and
maintain thermal performance, " says
co-owner Brent Anderson. Lofty
blankets work best, Anderson says.
Most of the materials the company
works with do not drape like various
weaves of fabrics, which makes them
very difficult to shape uniformly.
Because of this, various " nip and
tuck " techniques are employed to put
these thin films or foils in place, while
keeping in mind that each layer needs
to be loose fitting.
The biggest challenge presented
to the industry right now, he says, is
finding ways to achieve zero heat flux
of special systems, such as the space
Specialty Fabrics Review August 2021

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