NASA'S CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE FOR IMPROVED ASTRONAUT GLOVES SET

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http://www.ipp.nasa.gov/cc/cc_challenges.htm

The Astronaut Glove Challenge is designed to promote the development of
glove joint technology, resulting in a highly dexterous and flexible glove that
can be used by astronauts over long periods of time for space or planetary
surface excursions.

The Astronaut Glove Challenge will be conducted by Volanz
Aerospace/Spaceflight America in a format that brings all competitors to a
single location for a "head to head" competition. Each team will be required to
perform a variety of tasks with their gloves and will be scored on the glove
performance.

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Back in July of 2005 a challenge was issued to design a better space glove.
When you pressurize your space suit your gloves want to become balloons.
Bending your fingers or extending them can wear on your fingernails and tire you
out.

Coming up we will see who might be a winner of this competition.

We see in Science Fiction our space troopers wearing skin like exoskeletons that
respond to your request for action.

Maybe someone will come up with a smart glove that will curl and extend the
fingers at the slightest urging.

Would be nice to be able to hold onto your geologist hammer while picking at a
nice lunar sample.

It wasn't fun for Geologist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt.
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http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/a12.halo.html
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/[The J-mission crews (Apollos 15, 16, and 17) each did three 7-hour
EVAs and experienced not only fatigue and soreness in the hands and
forearms but also varying degrees of abrasion and damage, particularly
to the ends of the fingers and to the fingernails. Jack Schmitt and
others, for example, had their fingernails lift off the quick as a
result of repeated contact with the inside of the gloves as he pushed
his fingers forward.]
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Now where did I put my memory metal, muscle enhanced, smart gloves?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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http://www.ipp.nasa.gov/cc/

April 27, 2007

David E. Steitz/Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600

Alan Hayes
Volanz Aerospace, Inc., Owings, Md.
202-498-6804

MEDIA ADVISORY: M07-43 Corrected

NASA'S CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE FOR IMPROVED ASTRONAUT GLOVES SET

WASHINGTON - On Wednesday and Thursday, May 2-3, teams from around the
nation will compete for a total of $250,000 from NASA for an improved
astronaut glove design. The Astronaut Glove Challenge, one of NASA's
seven Centennial Challenges, will take place at the New England Air
Museum at Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, Conn. The
competition is free and open to media and the public. It begins May 2
from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EDT and continues May 3 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

NASA is offering a total of $200,000 for the team that can design and
manufacture the best astronaut glove that exceeds minimum
requirements. An additional $50,000 goes to the team that best
demonstrates Mechanical Counter Pressure gloves.

An astronaut's gloves are among the most critical pieces of the
spacesuit. After an extended time of work using the current gloves,
astronauts' hands have bled and been bruised, and fingernails have
been damaged. This competition seeks new glove joint technologies
that make the astronauts' jobs easier, more comfortable and safer
with stronger gloves that increase flexibility and dexterity.

At no cost to NASA, Volanz Aerospace, Inc., Owings, Md., is
administering the challenge. Hamilton Sundstrand, Windsor Locks,
Conn., and ILC Dover, Frederica, Del., are sponsors of the contest.

Centennial Challenges, an element of NASA's Innovative Partnerships
Program, promotes technical innovation through prize competitions to
make revolutionary advances to support the Vision for Space
Exploration and NASA goals. For more information about the Innovative
Partnerships Program and Centennial Challenges, visit:

http://www.ipp.nasa.gov/cc

For more information about NASA and other agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

 
-end-

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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jul/HQ_E05189_Astronaut_glove_challenge.html

Michael Braukus/J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1979/5241)

Alan Hayes
Volanz Aerospace Inc/Spaceflight America
(Phone: 301/812-0450)


 July 22, 2005
RELEASE: 05-189

NASA Announces New Centennial Challenge

NASA, in collaboration with the Volanz Aerospace Inc./Spaceflight
America (Volanz), today announced a new Centennial Challenges prize
competition.

The Astronaut Glove Challenge award will go to the team that can design
and manufacture the best performing glove within competition parameters.
The $250,000 purse will be awarded at a competition scheduled for
November 2006, when competing teams test their glove designs against
each other.

For the Challenge, teams must develop the bladder-restraint portion of
an astronaut glove that is strong, easy on the hands, and gives the
operator a high degree of dexterity.

"Reducing space suit glove fatigue is a critical technological goal
that, if successful, would have an important impact on astronaut
performance and mission planning," said NASA's acting Associate
Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Douglas
Cooke.

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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