EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY

	Situations requiring one or more crew members to exit the starship in 
an airless or otherwise hostile environment are known collectively as 
extravehicular activity (EVA). These include detailed visual inspections, 
periodic maintenance, damage control, and unique hardware modifications. 
They may be done alone or in concert with teleoperator and automated 
systems.
	Various degrees of protection are available for starship crews. While 
the actual configurations carried by Starfleet vessels will vary according to 
major mission segments and swapouts for improved models, typical suit 
types are presented here. The first, the low pressure environment garment 
(LPEG), is a close-fitting, lightweight suit, designed for benign airless 
operations. One use would be during an orbital starbase layover, where the 
spacecraft is in External Support Mode, well protected against radiation and 
micrometeoroid hazards. The suit features simplified multilayer construction, 
affording atmospheric integrity, gas exchange, and thermal and humidity 
control without sacrificing mobility. All consumables and circulation 
equipment are mounted within an integral backpack, with controls placed for 
50 percentile humanoids on the chest and forearm areas. The suit allows for 
exterior operations, though time outside is limited to three hours. A variant of 
the LPEG is the emergency pressure garment (EPG), designed for long-term 
storage in starship emergency equipment lockers. The EPG is capable of 
supporting life for two hours in most ship abandonment or isolated hull 
breach scenarios while crews await rescue.
	StarfleetÕs midlevel suit is the standard extravehicular work garment 
(SEWG). This type is reinforced with additional radiation and pressure layers 
for extended operations, and is configured with a sixteen-hour consumables 
supply, plus enhanced recycling devices. It is designed for most major 
industrial tasks and hazardous exploration assignments. Radiation and 
micrometeoroid protection is essentially unlimited. The suit controls are 
supplemented by advanced autonomic life support controllers within the suit 
computer.
	The current high-level suit is the augmented personnel module 
(APM). This suit is a hybrid garment composed of both hard and flexible body 
segments, essentially a complete small spacecraft. The concept, still valid 
after four hundred years, allows the occupant to perform slightly longer 
duration missions than the SEWG, but with much greater relative comfort. A 
wide array of readily available tools and manipulator options is coupled with 
reaction control system thrusters, resulting in high productivity EVA returns.
	All suit types are available in customized versions for nonhumanoid 
and handicapped crew members.  Æ