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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."
space is not going to be really conqurable until we can get skin tight style suits going. Even with the fact that in space weight becomes less of a problems (it is not gone, it returns as inertia force). Range of mobility in an enviroment that can kill you will be key. I would hope that they are spending more research in this area. Polarizing suits and cermic wire heaters would seem to be the way to go. The real trick is keeping what is on the inside from leaking to the ourside. Non-porus plastics are available, I would think you could layer those with light sensitice polarizing compunds, beef up the style of artic survival suits heaters and give it a go. If we can free ourselves from the bulkyness of the suits we have now anything in space will be possible.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
From the article:
The Hamilton Sundstrand team is considering a technology that would project information onto the helmet's visor or onto the astronaut's retina. They are also looking into small wrist-worn devices.
This is why I love seemingly pointless scientific endeavors. Why should we go to Mars? I guess it's cool, maybe we'll find some cool microrganisms to study, etc, but cool new gadgets are what I'm into.
I want this display info on my glasses system. Forget PDAs, all your info could be on your glasses. Even better, maybe on your contacts. No more forgetting my PDA in my backpack. This is freakin cool!
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
In nearly all sci-fi, people in space wear skin-tight suits. Since space is a vacuum, I can understand why a suit would tend to billow out, but does anybody know if it is possible to make a non-bulky skinsuit? Maybe something like the G suits pilots wear? Maybe something related to scuba diving (though I know the pressure difference there is the opposite)? I dunno, but if I'm not going to get my hovercar anytime soon, I at least want my spacesuit.
I dont think any suit short of multiple layers of Kevlar (heh, like a hundred) is going to protect an astronaut from being killed by a fleck of paint going 20,000 MPH..Thats the main problem I think should be addressed. I'd be more concerned about physical safety than I would be about mobility.
Cheers,
Bowie J. Poag
Imagine 38 of D in zero-G.
Spacesuits are special clothes that are made in order to protect the bodies of astronauts in the space. Astronauts may keep being alive by wearing spacesuits in the space at all times. Human beings are not able to keep their lives in the space by wearing clothes as those on the earth. For this
reason, astronauts wear specially manufactured spacesuits so that they can endure the vaccuum, radiation, and temperatures.
Mars is a different environment from that of the earth on which we live. It is a space in which there is practically no atmospheric pressure nor significant oxygen, and the extremely hot and cold environments are repeated by the solar energy. Also, astronauts are threatened by the space dust
flying around at a fast speed, various electronic waves, radiation, etc. Therefore, in order for an astronaut to come out of a spaceship and to move around freely, and to urinate.
This post was first marked -1 troll, then mismoderated to offtopic. Clearly the most on topic post in the thread at this moment is the following post.
It regards the main artwork of the story and discusses the problem of LONG TERM space suit usage.
The drawing in the story shows a sight hard to believe, a biological female comfortable on mars.
As you may know, extended stay in a suit in the airforce is miserable for females once the primary diaper padding (for females) is soiled.
catheterizing may help, but self catheterizing is difficult and prone to problems over multiple usage. Even worse, extgended catheterization of female urethra weakens an already very weak structure.
The male urethra has a strong ring of circular bands (including "fundus ring") to prevent not only urine output, but to prevent massive retrograde ejaculation. A backup sphincter of striated, not smooth, muscle assists in male continence as well.
Basically thick viscous ejaculate matter can go only forward, not backward through the sphincter into the bladder.
Females, unfortunately, lack a solid ring and as can be seen in anatomical photo cross sections, possess two bulbous muscular clumps to serve as a partial seal.
That is one reason many females are more incontinent than men, and why many more females urinate while giggling than men.
Elderly men with prostate problems are a different problem.
But without penii, it is aparent that these space suits are miserable eternal wet diapers for females.
This is asuming that females are going to be needed in space for critical work in the first place.
Did the moderator even LOOK at the story before slamming this to -1?
Am I the only one who sees this and wonders if it will come in nifty translucent colors?
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
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...
GPL Deconstructed
Where are you going to find flecks of paint traveling 20kmph on the surface of Mars?
I would have to hazard the existence of an EVA suit and a ''Planetary Descent Hazard' suit. At least it'd be something more comfortable and utilitarian than the short if cute yeoman's miniskirts in Star Trek.
GPL Deconstructed
I still don't think it was ever discussed how they shed heat in a stillsuit, especially if they recycled and collected all the sweat... no evaporation means no heat loss, right?
GPL Deconstructed
Seems very mad to me. The problem with the journey to Mars is a human problem. There should be no issue with sending a continual supply of food and materials. Leave them in orbit round mars till needed. Then either dock with the mother ship when it arrives or drop through the atmosphere for delivery on planet as needed.
Deleted
Obviously at least the lungs must be pressurized, but what about the rest of the body ? There is some information on the consequences of such low pressure for the human body at this page (also some real cases discussed). Apparently some water vapor will evolve in the soft tissues and cause swelling of the body. This can be prevented by "a properly fitted elastic garment" at pressures as low as 20 millibar. It is not clear whether this would work at the 6 milibar on Mars.
Because the current suits aren't appropriate for use on Mars, as per the article.
The comment in the lead article, "the current EVA suit is 24 years old" is incorrect and misleading.
Yes, the current suits are descendents or the A7LB suits used in Apollo. But since then, the design has been anything but static. The Apollo suits were designed for two things---as pressure suits for use in EVA situations, and as excursion suits for use on the Lunar surface. The Apollo suits had a number of features on them (the complicated joints in the legs to allow walking, the lunar overshoes, etc) that made them appropriate for lunar use.
However, the EVA requirements for the shuttle are different than for Apollo, and the suits evolved appropriately, with more cameras, simpler legs, a hard upper torso for better pressure control, metal ring joints instead of zippers, etc. The current suits are much better for EVA use than the Apollo A7LB suits. But a number of these features aren't good for planetary use. The Hard Upper Torso adds a *lot* of weight. The PLSS is very heavy for 1/3 gravity use. The legs need to be modified to allow walking again. Etc...
If we are going to Mars, a new suite optimized for the new conditions (including the fact that it needs to be designed to last for the years that travel to and from Mars requires) is needed. It must allow mobility, must be reusable, must have less weight, and many other factors.
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.
Do you have ESP?
Why can't they just use those metal and leather thongs with the metal bras and fur trim and big ass spears, spike heel thigh high boots. The men can dress like gladiators. At least that's how it is in the movies.
Don't knock retrograde ejaculation until you try it.
But seriously, you wonder why your post was moderated as offtopic? You could have summed up 3/4 of it with - "Current spacesuits were designed without proper consideration of the female anatomy." Instead you ramble on about "bulbous muscular clumps" and whatnot for nearly 10 paragraphs.
Notice the molding on the "H-Suit" worn by the male model. Will the female version have a bust molded into it, and be missing that raised portion on the cod-piece?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
We really do need new space suits for the ISS. I suspect that they primarily got hit with budget cutting to reduce the cost of the station to something that won't cause it to be canned for being too expensive.
The main annoyance with the current suits is that they operate at pure oxygen at a reduced pressure. This can very easily cause "The Bends", so you need to have an overnight pre-breathe.
Jerry Pournelle argues that we need a zero-pre-breathe suit that is easy to deal with. Why? Because that way, you could assemble structures in space. For the long truss structure for the ISS, we are sending up integrated chunks. If EVA planning was easier and we send up ironworkers instead of scientists, we could send up components of a space structure in any booster, large or small, and assemble them into a completed structure. This makes more sense when you consider that it is far easier to create a reusable launch vehicle that has a quarter of the cargo-carying capacity of the shuttle than one that has the cargo-carying capacity of the shuttle.
It's also good because you can have your final product as lightly constructed as a butterfly.
I only half agree with Jerry Pournelle, instead figuring that what we need more is a large inflatable hangar. That way, you don't need to deal with your parts floating into orbit and becomming part of the space debris problem, you don't need any sort of space suit, and you don't need to deal with maintaining the space suits.
I really would love it if somebody could reference some real research about skintight spacesuits for my reference files. I mean, if we ever want more people in space, an inexpensive skintight spacesuit would be great so that every room could have a few ready in case of depresurization.
Gentoo Sucks