franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

14.4 EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY14.4 EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITYSituations requiring one or more crew members to exitthe starship in an airless or otherwise hostile environment areknown collectively as extravehicular activity (EVA). These includedetailed visual inspections, periodic maintenance,damage control, and unique hardware modifications. Theymay be done alone or in concert with teleoperator andautomated systems.Various degrees of protection are available for starshipcrews. While the actual configurations carried by Starfieetvessels will vary according to major mission segments andswapouts for improved models, typical suit types are presentedhere. The first, the low pressure environment garment(LPEG), is a close-fitting, lightweight suit, designed for benignairless operations. One use would be during an orbitalstarbase layover, where the spacecraft is in External SupportMode, well protected against radiation and micrometeoroidhazards. The suit features simplified multilayer construction,affording atmospheric integrity, gas exchange, and thermaland humidity control without sacrificing mobility. All consumablesand circulation equipment are mounted within an integralbackpack, with controls placed for 50 percentile humanoidson the chest and forearm areas. The suit allows forexterior operations, though time outside is limited to threehours. A variant of the LPEG is the emergency pressuregarment (EPG), designed for long-term storage in starshipemergency equipment lockers. The EPG is capable ofsupporting life for two hours in most ship abandonment orisolated hull breach scenarios while crews await rescue.Starfleet's midlevel suit is the standard extravehicularwork garment (SEWG). This type is reinforced with additionalradiation and pressure layers for extended operations, and isconfigured with a sixteen-hour consumables supply, plusenhanced recycling devices. It is designed for most majorindustrial tasks and hazardous exploration assignments.Radiation and micrometeoroid protection is essentially unlimited.The suit controls are supplemented by advanced autonomiclife support controllers within the suit computer.The current high-level suit is the augmented personnelmodule (APM). This suit is a hybrid garment composed ofboth hard and flexible body segments, essentially a completesmall spacecraft. The concept, still valid after four hundredyears, allows the occupant to perform slightly longer durationmissions than the SEWG, but with much greater relativecomfort. A wide array of readily available tools and manipulatoroptions is coupled with reaction control system thrusters,resulting in high productivity EVA returns.All suit types are available in customized versions fornonhumanoid and handicapped crew members.14.4.1 Extravehicular garment types