Suitport - Advantages

Advantages

Suitports carry two major advantages over traditional airlocks. First, the mass and volume required for a suitport would be significantly less than that required for an airlock. Launch mass is at a premium in modern chemical rocket-powered launch vehicles, at an estimated cost of US$60,000 per kilogram delivered to the lunar surface.

Secondly, suitports can eliminate or minimize the problem of dust mitigation. During the Apollo program, it was discovered that the lunar soil is electrically charged, and adheres readily to any surface with which it comes into contact, a problem magnified by the sharp, barb-like shapes of the dust particles. Lunar dust may be harmful in several ways:

• The abrasive nature of the dust particles may rub and wear down surfaces through friction.
• The dust may damage coatings used on gaskets, optical lenses, solar panels, windows, and wiring.
• The dust may cause damage to an astronaut's lungs as well as nervous and cardiovascular systems, leading to conditions such as pneumoconiosis.

During the Apollo missions, the astronauts donned their space suits inside the Apollo Lunar Module cabin, which was then depressurized to allow them to exit the vehicle. Upon the end of EVA, the astronauts would re-enter the cabin in their suits, bringing with them a great deal of dust which had adhered to the suits. Several astronauts reported a "gunpowder" smell and respiratory and/or eye irritation upon opening their helmets and being exposed to the dust.

With a suitport, dust or other environmental contaminants cannot enter the cabin of the vehicle. When the suit is attached to the vehicle, any dust which may have adhered to the backpack of the suit is sealed between the outside of the backpack and the vehicle-side hatch. Any dust on the suit that is not on the backpack remains sealed outside the vehicle. Likewise, the suitport prevents contamination of the external environment by microbes carried by the astronaut.