Maintaining a Moon Suit

The Apollo-era A7L Extravehicular Mobility Units were used for less than eight hours at a time, within a few days, with a maximum of three moonwalks per mission.

Assume a fictional moonbase with 1960s-era technology, with some reason to have frequent surface activity. What are the limits on suit maintenance, and which ones could be overcome easily with a few kilograms more suit weight?

• The PLSS had silver-zinc batteries, yet I believe that the batteries were exchanged rather than recharged. Are there reasons not to recharge them on Luna? Or am I mixing battery technologies?
• The PLSS also had lithium hydroxide CO2 scrubbers. Would a regenerative system have been possible at the time?
• Could the coolant water have been recovered?
• And the one where I'm really stumped, what would regolith do to the fabrics and seals? Could they be dusted off easily, or would a few use cycles start abrasion.
• Could the body waste subsystems be laundered?
• Were there limits on the shelf life of (unused) spare suits?

posted over 5 years ago

o.m.‭

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