Related Sections: Space
MIT develops skintight, stylish spacesuits
Regular spacesuits don't give astronauts much range of motion, what with the huge bulk that their gas-pressurized nature require. People who travel through the cosmos in scifi shows and movies always have much cooler suits, ones that allow for all sorts of moving around. Well, it looks like that concept is moving away from the fiction side of things and right to the plain old science side.
A team at MIT has developed some totally awesome-looking, skintight spacesuits that remove all that bulk that astronauts need to deal with today. By getting rid of the gas-pressurized nature of the suits, they've created a sleek design that'll not only allow for a greater range of motion but also keep space travelers fit by providing resistance to motion. The suit uses mechanical counter-pressure rather than gas pressure, exerting force on the astronauts body to protect them from the vacuum of space. They hope to have it ready to roll in about 10 years, just in time for a manned mission to Mars. Totally awesome.
Via MIT
By crosis101 at 9:47 AM ON 07/19/07
What do you remember about your Zero-G training, Mr. Worf?
This suit looks like the First Contact/Voyager Era suits. I think they are awesome. I cannot wait for these to replace the Shuttle Block suits we have now. My only concern is that they be able to be a tear resistant, and resistan to micro-meteroid impact as today's suits. And I want to see the cool mission patches on them!
By Streaky at 10:19 AM ON 07/19/07
Me, Too. Although, I hope who ever that is from my country (Canada) that gets to go to Mars, in the next Ten Years, is a younger looking Julie Payette or a much(!) younger looking Roberta Bondar...
Or Barbara Bain and Catherine Schell...
Here's hoping on all counts!
By martyds at 11:12 AM ON 07/19/07
There are some pretty nifty new and developing materials that may really be capable of producing this kind of suit already on the market. Polyvinyl chloride added to a kevlar base would probably be a good start for experimentation. I am sure their labs are way ahead of me and these materials are actually a really good starting point. So it's not really very far fetched...
Martin
By martyds at 11:12 AM ON 07/19/07
There are some pretty nifty new and developing materials that may really be capable of producing this kind of suit already on the market. Polyvinyl chloride added to a kevlar base would probably be a good start for experimentation. I am sure their labs are way ahead of me and these materials are actually a really good starting point. So it's not really very far fetched...
Martin
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
martyds:
There are some pretty nifty new and developing materials that may really be capable of producing this kind of suit ...More »