Project title: Photogrammetry for Deformation Mapping: Applications to Mechanical Counterpressure Spacesuits 

Supervisor: Dr Matthew Eaton

Mechanical Counterpressure (MCP) spacesuits are an alternative concept to the gas-filled spacesuits that have been in use since 1965. Rather than containing the body within a pocket of gas, MCP suits propose to provide pressure to the body by means of a tightly wrapped fabric, akin to the operation of high-altitude flight suits. Prototypes have demonstrated that the work and force required to bend joints in such garments is up to an order of magnitude lower than in current spacesuits.

These benefits come at the cost of design complexity, with each spacesuit having to be individually tailored to an astronaut’s body-shape and skin-strain pattern. This project aimed to investigate computational engineering techniques for the design of these garments, developing an improvement developmental framework. This included the development of models to alleviate one of the most significant impediments to MCP suit designs.

In order to lower the barrier to entry for the collection of the data needed for MCP suit design tasks, a new method for deformation tracking based on photogrammetry was developed and tested. The technique was also tested on data collected with a 3D laser scanner: tracking the deformation of an arm and calculating the strain in the skin as the elbow was bent, as shown in the image above. The success and accessibility of this technique may make it useful in other areas of deformation monitoring.