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NASA Awards Contract For Spacesuit of the Future

Posted by Soulskill on from the new-threads-to-go-with-the-new-ride dept.

Guillermo brings news that NASA has awarded a contract for the development of the next generation of space suits for future use by astronauts in the Constellation program. The contract calls for two different levels of protection; a flexible, lightweight model for operations inside vehicles and stations, and a tougher, bulkier model built off the first for use on the moon. We've discussed spacesuit design (and what happens without them) in the past. "Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four astronauts on moon voyages and as many as six space station travelers. For short trips to the moon, the suit design will support a week's worth of moon walks. The system also must be designed to support a significant number of moon walks during potential six-month lunar outpost expeditions. In addition, the spacesuit and support systems will provide contingency spacewalk capability and protection against the launch and landing environment, such as spacecraft cabin leaks."

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  1. Re:Looks like our existing space suits by iamlucky13 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously, why spend all the money to design a new space suit, when all they can come up with is what we already have. Same bubble shaped head. Same giant backpack. NASA managed to waste several million dollars, and paid someone to give us what we already had. Oh, but I guess the artists drawings give it a pretty blue color...

    I don't really agree with modding this down. It's a mostly fair question, albeit rather snide and ignorant. He might as well ask why Boeing would bother designing the new 787, since it has the same round engines and is roughly the same size as planes they already build. Form follows function, but that doesn't tell you much about what's inside.

    This really is not very much like the current suits. NASA currently has two models:

    The first is the Advanced Crew Escape Suit, or ACES (I always like the fact that it shared its acronym with a type of ejection seat). This is not really a space suit, but a cross between a pressure suit and an ocean-survival suit. It's designed for escape protection up to about 50,000 feet and includes a parachute, 30 minutes of oxygen, a simple cooling system, and a survival pack with a radio and life raft. It weighs about 80 pounds.

    The second is the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or EMU. This 200 pound suit is practically a one-man spacecraft with 8 hours of life support, attachments for a cold-gas rescue jetpack, and even micrometeorite protection and glove heaters (hands can get pretty cold during the 45 minute orbital night periods). These suits are designed for long 0g operations, not walking on the moon. They're definite overkill (too bulky and heavy) for launch, landing, and quick transfers between vehicles, and not well-suited for walking on the moon. They're also quite hard to manuever in.

    The Apollo EVA suits are a little outdated and no longer available. They were also pretty awkward.

    This new suit will provide more protection than the ACES in the first configuration, and more versatility and hopefully flexibility than the EMU in the second configuration.