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NASA Engineers Work on New Spacesuits
NotCoward writes "In labs at Johnson Space Center, away from the buzz about NASA's new spaceship and its new missions to the moon and Mars, a group of engineers are plodding away at another piece of the puzzle: spacesuits. Astronaut apparel has evolved over the decades from Mercury's aluminum foil-looking outfits to the bulky, 275-pound whites now used on jaunts outside the space station. While it's too early in the process to know how the new space suits will look, the space agency is hoping to make new suits both high-tech and low-maintenance."
The apollo suits used two tanks of gaseous oxygen. The main tank at just over 1000 psi and the OPS backup tank at 6000 psi. The main tank was filled from a hose inside the LM. The OPS tank was filled once only on the ground.
EVA time was limited first by the quantity of water for the sublimators and second by oxygen quantity. The battery life was also a limiting factor, but I think it came third by a long margin.
Its not hard to carry more water for cooling. The reason it was in short supply on the moon was that the original designs for the PLSS didn't allow enough space.
But those high pressure oxygen tanks are a real pain. The structure contributes to the overall mass. The volume pushes the mass up because it takes space. Temperature is a problem anyway because it increases gas pressure and reduces density.
So if we are designing new suits I think we should find ways of stocking them with LOX. Probably in something like a vacuum flask. Maybe that is the next big step.
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From the article...
It will be interesting to see what type of designs they come up with and how they will strip the suits of a good 125-130 pounds. It would be funny to see them go back to something more retro looking like the new Spaceshuttle they're building. =p
Bite my shiny metal ass.
"Anything you forget to take with you will kill you; anything you do remember to bring but that doesn't work will kill you; and if you're in any doubt, assume everything will kill you."
Sound advice, although I suspect the missus takes it to heart whenever we go on holiday for a weekend.
Meta will eat itself
The suits *have* to be airtight.
You might be surprised to learn that this is not the case. Human skin is fairly resistant to vacuum. Abrasion, radiation protection, thermal insulation are more important considerations. Please read this article on space activity suits.
Given one hour to live, the student replied: "I'd spend it with professor FP who can make an hour seem like a lifetime."
> The intrepid explorers will then feel an incredible burning sensation in their mouth, throat, and lungs
> before dying the quick but allegedly-painful death of CO2 poisoning. The atmosphere of Mars is mostly carbon dioxide.
Oops. Guilty as charged. For some inane reason I thought it was mostly nitrogen.
On the other hand, CO2 is even better, because CO2 can be converted into molecular Oxygen through direct electrolysis. So... the hardware for quick jaunts outside is more complex than it would be under a mostly-nitrogen atmosphere, but longer trips are easier to handle as long as reliable power is available.