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What To Wear On Mars

Posted by timothy on from the that's-so-2033 dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "If men ever land on Mars, what will they wear to protect them from radiation, micrometeors and the very cold climate? Several students from the University of Alberta tackled the problem and designed space suits for Mars. Their prototype suit is composed of twelve layers of materials, including one made from Demron, a new nanotechnology material developed by a Florida-based company, Radiation Shield Technologies. The students and their professor, Dr. Barry Patchett, think their suit will largely be ready before real missions to Mars start in about twenty years. They also hope that NASA will pick their design. More details and references are available in this overview, including some illustrations."

4 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Important that there be a fly in the front. by dankjones · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So that they can unzip their spacepants and piss on a rock and say "Ha ha! Take that Mars!".

    What else would be the point of spending $9346294673945639046723548409 dollars to send a manned mission to Mars instead of 345767 unmanned probes to all the other planets and moons, and also another bigass space telescope?

  2. Re:The "Mars" Series by Robinson if you like this by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And if you've never read it, Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel would be a good matching read for this. (It's in audio too, but I fear the eventual movie.)

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  3. Re:Where the fashion going? by 0123456 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would imagine that's the weight of the suit alone, without the life support equipment: that probably adds a significant amount by itself.

  4. Re:Piece of cake by incubusnb · · Score: 2, Interesting
    On the day the rover sojourner landed in Mars it was colder in Edmonton than in the sojourner landing area (seriously).

    i remember that day, i didn't want to leave the house, seriously

    oh, standard issue Alberta Winter gear:

    • t-shirt
    • Sweater
    • Hoodie
    • Winter Jacket
    • underwear
    • Long Underwear
    • Jeans
    • Socks x2 (preferably Wool)
    • Toque
    • scarf
    • sunglasses (Snow-glare is a bitch)
    • add more Layers as Nessesary(sp?)
    on a warm Winter day, on a cold one, don't go outside for more than 10 Minutes
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