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Power Generating Spacesuits
Maggie McKee writes "Piezoelectric sensors could help power future space missions. Astronauts' spacesuits may one day be covered in motion-sensitive proteins that could generate power from the astronauts' movement, according to futuristic research being conducted by a new lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. Such 'power skins' could also be used to coat future human bases on Mars, where they could produce energy from the Martian wind. Eventually, the biologically derived suits might even be able to heal themselves."
Seeing you can't get energy for free, and you can't even break even, wouldn't this just add to the resistance one would need to overcome to move?
What? The suits are powered by the astronauts' movement, and that energy is provided by food? It's more conserving energy than anything. If we could somehow train our astronauts not to play golf on missions, we could save billions on R&D.
Anyway, I just love the capitalisation of "Could" in mid-sentence.
...I'm sure all they want is more of their own personal energy dumped into flexing their suits...
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Astronauts' spacesuits may one day be covered in motion-sensitive proteins that could generate power from the astronauts' movement ... Such 'power skins' could also be used to coat future human bases on Mars, where they could produce energy from the Martian wind.
But what about producting power from the Astronauts' wind?
Wizard Needs Food, Badly
Drill baby drill - on Mars
"...Could ...may ... could .... could ... could .... might...."
/. could get laid this year, and womankind may decide that brilliance could be a more important attribute than charisma. We could end up seeing a world that could be different than it is. This might happen anytime now.
Every geek on
The apocryphal story of NASA spending millions of dollars to invent a pressurized ball point pen that would work in zero gravity and USSR deciding to use a pencil comes to my mind.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Sure this would give them a much needed work-out, but that is far better to do inside where there is better oxygen supply, waste heat/water processing etc.. Rather use an exercise bike driving a generator which is likely to be far more efficient.
Basically this sounds far more like a solution looking for a problem that anything really useful.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
The apocryphal story of NASA spending millions of dollars to invent a pressurized ball point pen that would work in zero gravity and USSR deciding to use a pencil comes to my mind.
The one that's a blatantly not true? I'm against space exploration for many reasons, but even I know this story is utter bullshit.
1)Fisher developed the space pen without a dime from NASA, and sold them to NASA at a reasonable price.
2)Both the US and USSR used pencils.
3)Both stopped using them because the dust/filings/broken tips floating around were bad for people and equipment.
Incidentally, I have a Fisher pen; it's the smallest one they make (I think), a two-piece unit where the cap flips around to make it a full-length pen. It's a great pocket pen; the ink seems to be quick-drying (left-handed people will appreciate this and know what I mean), not too pricey ($10 I think? Maybe $15?) small, always works, and with the cap off, it's a full-size writing implement and very sturdy when "assembled." Not like one of those cheesy telescoping jobbies that bend and are too thin to hold. An o-ring-like seal keeps the cap on firmly when stored and keeps the laundry detergent out (yes, proven more than once.)
It's quick to whip out (cough) and always works, unlike half the pens at cashiers which a)can't be found and b)barely work. It also garners the occasional impressed comment. My only beef is that the clip came off after a month or so in my pocket- would have been nice if they had spot-welded it on instead of just press-fitting it.
Please help metamoderate.
There is a lot of complaining that this will make the suits harder to bend and a number of other non-sense.
The point is that a lot of energy is already wasted by normal movement. It goes into things like crushing your shirt sleeves, friction, sound etc.
You have to make the space suits out of something... it may as well be something that can recapture energy normally wasted in motion.
Some have brought up the notion that these types of devices use more energy to make than they can capture. If it costs more energy to make the suits than they can generate... well that is irrelevant. The energy would be expended on Earth, so the mission gains some energy efficiency for "free." This becomes a consideration only if the suit has to be manufactured during the mission... perhaps as a replacement.
Don't get me wrong... this is far from the primary way to get energy. Take the example from the article of using this to generate energy from the Martian wind. Instead we might use this "wind mill" technology. However, if you have wind buffeting a static structure, it makes some sense to capture some of that energy if (and that's a huge IF) you can do so just by changing the materials used on the exterior. It may make more sense to coat the windmills with this stuff, and build the shelters underground.
Don't post innacurate information
If you do, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.
Type define:apocryphal and hit search. Unless you were suggesting it isn't strong enough word to illustrate your stance. In which case, "utter bullshit" definitely fits the bill.
No sig for you!!