Suits for the next giant leap

Tony Navarro, San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:55:44 GMT

It's sleek and stylish, i'll give it that. But i feel that a tougher, somewhat armored suit augmented with a powered exoskeleton device(they're experimenting with one in japan, i believe) would be more practical. Use of lightweight materials is a given of course, but safety and durability should always come before svelt styling. Space is a hostile environment after all.

Suits for the next giant leap

Chris — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:01:42 GMT

It would be cool to have a space suit like they had on "lost in space"

Suits for the next giant leap

Denny Parks, Minneapolis, Minn — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:53:30 GMT

"Newman even suggests that the spacesuit could be spun onto your skin like a Spidey web."

What happens when the astronaut loses bone and muscle mass, and the suit becomes slack?

Suits for the next giant leap

Matthew F. Clough — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:13:38 GMT

This is all very interesting. It seems like it's about time, huh? Cool to see the possible look of future space travelers!

Suits for the next giant leap

James Sosso, Manhattan, New York — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:55:50 GMT

The transgression of spacesuit functionality into fashion is illustratory of a growing ubiquity in the space "industry". This is a positive sign of increasing interest and economic growth. One could provide a parallel comparison with the origin of motor transport from functional Model T to the plethora of vehicle options available today.

Suits for the next giant leap

shay — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:14:20 GMT

James Sosso, nice comparison at the end but stop trying to mystify everybody with your advanced vocabulary, its just a comment remember, no need to sound like some nerdy jackass.

Suits for the next giant leap

Daniel Roberts, Burkburnett, TX — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:23:37 GMT

I wonder if there are plans to use the fabric Devron in this space suit to protect against the radiation hazards astronauts will endure on the surface of the moon?

Suits for the next giant leap

P.g. Mulvaney — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:37:11 GMT

Let's see...the artcle states that we need a "gas-pressurized torso section and helmet". That helmet will need a locking seal mechanism. So would those fashionista boots Prof. Newman so fetchingly wears.
And the gloves too. So the result is perhaps only a bit less clunky than the current technology? Let's call it work-in-progress...

Suits for the next giant leap

Astranaut Doe — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:42:29 GMT

Having look closely at the images, i have a few remarks... No pockets to put your cigarettes in, no zipper if you want to go for a wiz, boots are not Nike, and that blonde is just cracking! :°)

Suits for the next giant leap

Og, Here, US — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:52:08 GMT

Who says science isn't sexy?

Suits for the next giant leap

John Doe, Seattle, Wash. — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:01:59 GMT

The inventor looks kinda hot.

Suits for the next giant leap

Bill Hensley, Houston, TX — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:06:15 GMT

Seems like an EVA suit would need additional layers for thermal and micrometeor protection. But there would still be a huge advantage in terms of mobility. On the other hand, for short term protection from sudden depressurization inside the cabin maybe this suit would be all you need. And, hey, it looks great!

Suits for the next giant leap

A.G. Pym, Richland, WA — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:13:02 GMT

NASA had "skinsuits" in the late 1960's - which were tested in vacuum in Houston. Author Jerry Pournelle worked on that program, and has written about the "skinsuits" and their development in at least one essay. I believe it may be in his "Black Holes" collection.

Suits for the next giant leap

Phil, Thousand Oaks California — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:17:35 GMT

Part of the purpose of a space suit (I was able to touch one of the old Apollo suits with my hands some years back) is also to provide limited protection against micrometeoroids. The suit I touched felt like light armor sort of, very tough, and I'm told it had many layors beneath the exteorior skin. The one pictured looks like it might be ok for Mars (if it can provide protection from -100 and +200 degree environments), but probably would need to be toughened up for exposure to space itself. Otherwise you would be risking perforation by space dust/small objects.

Suits for the next giant leap

Larry Collins, Kansas City, Missouri — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:27:13 GMT

Perhaps a kevlar lining could be added. It's able to stop bullets, so micrometeorites should be stoppable by it.

Suits for the next giant leap

A.G. Pym, Richland, WA — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:32:07 GMT

In Jerry Pournelle's aforementioned essay, he spoke of the wearer basically never taking the skinsuit off, while wearing something like a kevlar coverall over it for any EVA work. (Not to mention specific pieces of armor as necessary - more or less like the "brass bra" made famous on old pulp magazine covers).

This article doesn't say, and I haven't had time to look, but I'm curious as to thermal control with these. The Pournelle suits were such that your normal thermoregulation system (skin/sweat glands) would still work. Really, really cuts down on the bulk of the stuff you'd need to carry with you out the door. Just air & communications, and whatever tools you need.

Suits for the next giant leap

Alan Boyle — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:16:48 GMT

In some of the research papers relating to the Biosuit, Newman refers to the idea of "normal" thermal control (MCP refers to mechanical counterpressure):

"In addition to safety concerns, Webb also notes that the life support system of a MCP suit could be greatly simplified from existing versions due to the fact that the body can enable 'physiologically controlled cooling' by means of sweating. This assumes that the suit is porous (as was Webb's), allowing sweat to evaporate through the second skin. The Space Activity Suit directly exposed areas of skin no larger than 1mm2to vacuum (5 mmHg, 0.1 psia, 0.7 kPa) without problems. There were no signs of excessive fluid loss, or freezing of the skin. This also demonstrated that, at such a scale, the skin with-stood the tensile loads.

"Without the need for thermal control, the life support system would become a tank of oxygen with pressure regulators and a carbon dioxide scrubber. A MCP suit might also be an order of magnitude less expensive because it could be less bulky and lighter than current garments thus taking up less payload resources...."

http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/reports/NIACPhaseIReport.pdf

Suits for the next giant leap

Roger Hill, Irvine, CA — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:39:36 GMT

The problem with micropores for sweating is short-wavelength radiation, which would easily reach and quickly burn the skin. However, it becomes less of an issue if you make the pores zigzag so there are no straight lines to the skin. That might also cause some of the boiled sweat to linger in a tiny pocket of vapor, making the local environment slightly less onerous for the exposed area. There should be long term studies done on this, looking at how continuous exposure like that affects skin cells, capillaries, pores, follicles, glands, etc. My only objection would be that sweating out into space or Martian air doesn't do very well for closed-loop recycling. An outer garment that functions as a stillsuit would be desirable.

Suits for the next giant leap

Alan Sheets, Loveland CO — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:23:25 GMT

A.C. Clarke talked about this kind of suit in his description of the Lunar Marathon in his book "Hammer of God". For night side operations, the suit would actually need to radiate excess body heat, be flexible for running/jumping, and be strong enough to take on cosmic radiation and meteoroids.

Suits for the next giant leap

tommys — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:51:15 GMT

Let me know when you post photos of the Seven Of Nine design...

Suits for the next giant leap

Andy, Michigan — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:34:51 GMT

"Perhaps a kevlar lining could be added. It's able to stop bullets, so micrometeorites should be stoppable by it. "

Its not quite that simple.... A fairly quick rifle bullet goes around 3000 feet per second, converted to mph(according to a handy online conversion calulator fps x .68181818 = mph) would be 2045.45 mph. and that rifle bullet will pierce most kevlar. Space debris may be traveling 17,000-22,000 mph, so if your hit by anything with any mass you will probably splat like a bug on a windshield from all the kinetic energy. The suits need to protect astronauts from the vaccume, cold in darkness, heat in light, and radiation, and be durable enough not to rip open and vent you into space through a little cut, but I dont think they will offer much protection from impact. We need more research into nano-fabrics and EM shield type technologies.

Suits for the next giant leap

Ellis, Lansing, MI — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:20:37 GMT

IMHO, you're far more likely to get hit by a stray bullet in a bad part of town than be splatterhoused by a meteoroid on the Moon. Since most of the time will be spent in protected shelters, it's no big deal.

Suits for the next giant leap

danielle eliser gonzales,LA — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:18:14 GMT

this is cool!!!!!!!

Suits for the next giant leap

Sanket Jadhav,Thane,India — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 14:43:34 GMT

dava newman...u r gettin a noble prize after this splendid invention of urs

Suits for the next giant leap

Joan Vernikos, Culpeper, VA — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:26:59 GMT

Well done, Dava!!

Suits for the next giant leap

George S — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:15:58 GMT

Guessing here but...
1. Boots and gloves are worn over the true protective part of the suit so don't need bulky seals here as "socks" and "glove liners" would be contiguous with the rest of the suit body.

2. Could still have other garments worn over the suit much the same way a skier layers insulation over long underwear depending on conditions encountered. This would allow for various different configurations for longer or shorter term sorties in anything from thin atmosphere(Mars) to hard vaccum conditions. Since outer garments wouldn't need to be pressurized, freedom of motion wouldn't be compromised much.

Suits for the next giant leap

Kevin W — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:00:36 GMT

The suit is very cool. I had originally first read about this back in mid last year when it came out. An idea, and i also like the idea of the modularity of the bio-suit with outer garments, is to have any outer garments with hard sections to have motion-assistance motors to aid in an astronaut's movements and also could help boost endurance during long space walks.

Suits for the next giant leap

a p garcia — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:54:50 GMT

I like the 7of9 model.