The Astronaut's New Clothes

Metox writes: "An article posted on www.sciam.com gives a glimpse into the future of space clothing for use in hostile environments, Earth orbit, Mars, etc. Of all the facts in the article, the one I found most interesting is that the current EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit is an astonishing 24 years old. However, the article gives a good reason for this. As the EVA suit is used in a microgravity environment, mobility isn't as important, and dexterity can be enhanced by simple changes to the arms and hands. The article highlights the current tests of two new EVA/Mars contenders, the I-Suit and the H-Suit."

Comments

Re:skin tight suits

[Stephen Samuel]

We're not going into combat situations here. Skin tight mobility might be nice, but it's not entirely necessary. It's also unlikely, since insulation is more valuable. Having lived in Edmonton, where it sometimes goes down to -40 in mid winter, I wouldn't care much about a skin-tight suit in a hostile environment. You can get very usable mobility with a few layers of clothing. It's a bit bulky and slows you down a bit, but not enough to be bothersome.

The one place where dexterity is really valuable is in the hands. Most people have no problems with a nice bulky (warm) parka, but you can pay big bucks for a really good pair of thin gloves that still keep your hands warm.

Ceramic heaters?

[2nd Post!]

I'd think, in space and such, with a proper insulative suit, the problem isn't generating heat, because the human body does that okay... it's shedding excess heat!

The human body, unfortunately, doesn't cool down by radiating in the IR range; it cools down via evaporation of sweat.

So in a skintight suit, the sweat would pool and collect into a thin puddle under the suit and heat would start to build up pretty quickly, I think.

I have no idea how the Dune stillsuits conquered that problem...

OLD SPACE SUITS

[Anonymous Coward]

"Of all the facts in the article, the one I found most interesting is that the current EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit is an astonishing 24 years old"

Yeah. I wish I had some beta XP style suit with many new features so that I could die in cold space all alone.

What damn reason do we need new space suits for. The arguments here sound cosmetic. The object of wearing a space suit is to keep alive and do work in the worst environment ever known to man.

And if you want a skin tight suit that will withstand a crack from a washer going 20,000 miles an hour forget it. The heat dissapation alone would vaporize a human.

It is arrogant for a bunch of computer jocks to think you could engineer everthing much better than it is now. I understand it, I even hope our generation whips some serious smack down on the engineering world. But, there are people who DO this.

AS if computers run for shit now as it is. They have a hell of long road before they are another ma bell or eiffel tower or autobahn or municipal electric service or even cable tv.

Go back to work on computers, at least then you stand a shot at changing the world for the better.

old == reliable

[Trailer Trash]

the one I found most interesting is that the current EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit is an astonishing 24 years old

On the other hand, nobody has died or been injured in the last 24 years because of their suit. There's something to be said for that kind of reliability.