Development of Underwater Motion Capture System for Space Suit Mobility Assessment. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bernal, Yaritza; Kim, K. Han; Benson, Elizabeth; Jarvis, Sarah; Harvill, Lauren; Meginnis, Ian; Rajulu, Sudhakar
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ... Annual Meeting. Volume 61:Part 1(2017)
• Page Start: 945
• Page End: 949
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: Human engineering -- Congresses; 620.8205
• DOI: 10.1177/1541931213601718
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1541-9312

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop and deploy a novel motion capture system that utilizes off-the-shelf, dive-rated hardware to measure 3-D whole body reach envelopes of space suits in an underwater analog, which simulates a microgravity environment. The accuracy of the developed system was compared to a gold standard motion capture system in a dry-land condition before deployment. This study is ultimately aimed at providing a methodology for quantitative metrics to evaluate and compare the mobility performances of a newly developed prototype space suit versus an existing space suit at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at NASA's Johnson Space Center.