science

Personal Rescue Enclosure

Personal Rescue Enclosure is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Personal Rescue Enclosure rather than just read about it. In short: The personal rescue enclosure (PRE), or "rescue ball", was a device for transporting astronauts from one Space Shuttle to another in case of an emergency. It was produced as a prototype but never flew on any missions.

Key takeaways

Personal Rescue Enclosure belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Personal Rescue Enclosure to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Personal Rescue Enclosure from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The personal rescue enclosure (PRE), or "rescue ball", was a device for transporting astronauts from one Space Shuttle to another in case of an emergency. It was produced as a prototype but never flew on any missions. The ball was 36 inches (91 cm) in diameter and had a volume of 0.33 cubic meters (12 cubic feet). The structure comprised three fabric layers and incorporated a window and a zipper to allow the astronaut to enter and exit the ball. The ball enabled one crew member to curl up inside and don an oxygen mask and hold a carbon dioxide scrubber/oxygen supply device with one hour's worth of oxygen. The ball would have been connected by an umbilical to the shuttle to supply air until the airlock depressurized. The rescue ball containing the crew member would have been carried to the rescue shuttle by a space-suited astronaut. The PRE was designed to protect humans in space in the event of an emergency where not enough full space suits were available. It was developed in the 1970s and 1980s to support the Space Shuttle program. The PRE was designed to be used in conjunction with a fully suited astronaut that would provide mobility to the person in the ball. The ball's life-support systems consisting of oxygen and a carbon dioxide scrubber could support a person for about an hour. The life support system that supplied oxygen was called the Personal Oxygen Supply, or, alternatively, it could be supplied with oxygen from an external source after being sealed. The ball was made of fabric, and was sealed by way of zippers, with a small circular window to allow the occupant to see out. NASA evaluated three methods of transporting the balls:

By hand, a suited astronaut would haul the balls By robotic arm, a robotic manipulator arm would move the balls through space (see Canadarm) The balls would be attached to a line between two spaceships and pulled along like a clothesline. Dimensions:

86-centimeter-diameter (2-foot-10-inch) sphere As a flexible not rigid item this figure would be subject to some variation, especially if not pressurized. Materials/construction methods Fabric consisting of three layers urethane Kevlar Thermal protective layer (outermost) Window constructed of Lexan

See also Space suit Rescue Agreement Single-person spacecraft The Yes Men § New York Post and SurvivaBall

References

External links

"ABSTRACTS/GPN-2002-000207". grin.hq.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2006-07-18. Retrieved 2017-02-23.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Personal Rescue Enclosure

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Personal Rescue Enclosure claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Personal Rescue Enclosure before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Personal Rescue Enclosure ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Personal Rescue Enclosure

In research: Personal Rescue Enclosure appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Personal Rescue Enclosure in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Personal Rescue Enclosure is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Rescue equipment, Rescue in space, Space Shuttle program, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Personal Rescue Enclosure outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Personal Rescue Enclosure in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Personal Rescue Enclosure means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Personal Rescue Enclosure out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Personal Rescue Enclosure in simple terms?

Why does Personal Rescue Enclosure matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Personal Rescue Enclosure?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Personal Rescue Enclosure.