Modeling of Human Thermoregulation Response to Spaceflight Changes Applied to the Technological Design of EVA Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garments (LCVG)

NASA’s Human Research Program defines several hazards of human spaceflight, including radiation, isolation, distance from earth, gravity fields, and hazardous/closed environments. In particular, closed environments present a challenge for the design of environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) and the subset of ECLSS that includes management of the human thermoregulation system. These challenges are amplified as missions become more complex, farther from earth, and include increasingly complex extravehicular activity (EVA). Over the last 58 years, over 250 people have participated in EVAs during spaceflight. Since the Apollo missions, crew members have worn a cooling garment underneath the pressurized EVA suit to regulate the temperature of the in-suit environment. Current Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garments (LCVG) have not changed significantly since the Apollo era and are therefore not optimized for current microgravity missions, the Artemis program, or future crewed missions to Mars. New numerical models could provide a basis for the generation of novel thermoregulation designs and technology, especially in more complex missions. The planned research focuses on the intersection of human thermoregulation modeling and the impacts of spaceflight on the human body. A new thermoregulation model of the human, focused on the limbs, will build off of 60 years of human thermoregulation modeling, derived from the METMAN and Wissler models. The proposed model will include all aspects of human thermoregulation, including metabolic heat generation, heat transfer within the body, and heat transfer to the atmosphere, along with modeling of the cooling garment layers of the spacesuit. The model will focus on creating detailed blood flow and LCVG fluid flow path modeling and optimization, while incorporating three-dimensional variability and view factor impacts for thermal radiation. Model validation will use data published in open literature. The impact of a new validated human thermoregulation model has the potential to provide the theoretical basis for engineering new LCVG garments with innovative cooling technologies for next-generation EVA suits.

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