Description: Under Phase 1 of subject SBIR, Air-Lock, Incorporated will design a self donning and doffing Rear Entry Hard Upper Torso (REHUT) that interfaces with a suit port. This design will allow suited, pressurized crewmembers to mate/demate their suits to/from suit ports located on lunar or planetary habitats, rovers, etc. This is a significant activity because it minimizes concerns over dust entering the habitat during crewmember entry/exit and it maximizes the habitat's working volume by eliminating the need for airlocks. For the purpose of this SBIR, the baseline architecture being will focus on NASA JSC's MK-III advanced spacesuit and the suit port being utilized by the Lunar Electirc Rover (LER).

Benefits: With the proposed commercial development of space stations, any invention that maximizes consumables will have added value. The design of a spacesuit that can be donned/doffed without the need for a large airlock will have added value to commercial habitats.

The prototype self don/doff rear entry HUT resulting from the execution of Phase II will exhibit commercial appeal within NASA for advanced suit prototype (MK-III in particular) and future lunar/planetary suits. Potential NASA JSC customers include NASA EC and CSSS ESPO.