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NASA's First New Spacesuit In 20 Years Is Its Own Airlock
Zothecula writes "The current U.S. space suit used by NASA is a dinosaur. Designed in 1992, it was only ever intended to be used by crews aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). That may have been good enough in the days of 14 kps modems, but with eyes turning increasingly toward missions to the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, space explorers need something better. That's why NASA is designing its first new suit in twenty years. Developed by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES), the Z-1 prototype space suit currently undergoing vacuum testing at the Johnson Space Center is a wearable laboratory of new technology. And it's a hatchback."
Um.... FTW!
yeah.
and beyond!
20 years old and it is a dinosaur? You young'ins are obsessed with the Shiny.
Leaving a spacesuit docked on a ship and now having nothing but the structural integrity of that suit between a crew and hard vacuum doesn't sound like a particularly bright idea.
As much as I value the space program, I am questioning the need for designing a new space suit.
Congress constantly targets NASA for budget cuts...
With its limited budget NASA seems more interesting in robotic flights instead of manned flights. They seem to be using more things like the Mars Rover.
We do not even have a space fleet right now. The shuttles have been mothballed and sold off as museum pieces and we now send people to the space station by buying them passage on soviet vessels launched out of Kazakhstan.
The future of manned space flight seems to be private industry in the US. How come NASA is spending the money designing suits instead of the future space companies?
Looking for a job?
Want your resume written professionally?
DON'T USE TUNAREZ!!!
NASA outsourced this particular suit design to Hasbro, who then produced it under a license from Disney/Pixar.
Was hoping for something more like this: http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/
14.4k
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I believe the Soviets had a "hatch-back" earlier. I expect it makes suiting up quite a bit faster and simpler.
Green and UGLY and looks like a worm Going to be joke fodder
Nobody cares what the damn thing looks like; it's meant to protect, not impress.
I hear you, but did they have to make it look like the hunchback of Notre-dame
If my comment didn't sound as good in your head as it did in mine, then I guess we all know who's to blame
It doesn't seem that way. These suits can act a higher pressure which allows them to dock to the spacecraft in the first place. So they must be sturdier.
Also, it's not like when the suit leaves that the ship is exposed to space. There must be an additional "hatch" that is closed around the suit opening to allow it to leave.
So when docked you have the structural integrity of the suit itself (life support backpack plus suit plus helmet) and the structural integrity of the "hatch" that is not mentioned.
It's not a full blown traditional airlock because there is not a separate space that has to have the pressure equalized before you can enter the space craft. In a way it is a mini-airlock because you will still need to equalize that small space in between the hatch and the suit.
The greatest advantage to this is speed. No pre-breathing and cycle time in a big airlock. You could be out in space in minutes it sounds like, or less.
...the government pays 3 times as much for private business to provide half the service that was being provided, and a few Anglo-Saxon guys pocket the rest of the cash.
I'd be shocked if there weren't also a ship-interior cover for the hatch.
Well... in comic form anyway.
http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1000/fv00981.htm
I smell a lawsuit.
Shouldn't that be the hatchback of Notre-dame?
When I saw this, my first thought was that it looked a lot like suits that sci-fi moviemakers have imagined over the years.
To infinity and beyond! (Is it just me, or have they actually built Buzz Lightyear?)
The greatest advantage to this is speed. No pre-breathing and cycle time in a big airlock. You could be out in space in minutes it sounds like, or less.
The other great advantage is that one person should be able to put on their own suit - now, it takes substantial help from a partner.
I'd be shocked if there weren't also a ship-interior cover for the hatch.
I believe that the rear hatch can be closed while it is docked..
Drawings in speculative fiction from the fifties.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You also avoid tracking anything that gets onto the suit into the vehicle with these things. The Apollo crews can tell you how big a deal that is for a mission of any duration, and it looks like Mars dust is if anything worse.
0.0
Why yes, yes it should.
If my comment didn't sound as good in your head as it did in mine, then I guess we all know who's to blame
holy shit you're right. lucky you caught that or the scientists at NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems might've had a large problem on their hands.
Manned space exploration isn't funded because we need to. It is funded because we want to. It is basically a fancier version of the Blue Angels. Mars rovers can look as unaesthetic as you want. But an astronaut, who theoretically could be fighting giant octopuses and pirates in space needs to look right. NASA should really talk to Blizzard or Bioware about how to make astronauts look like Space Marines.
Is any private space company working on EVA? Satellites and space tourism don't seem to lend themselves to space-walks...
That's a common myth, the crew cabin was considerably sturdier since it was a pressure vessel keeping the atmosphere inside the crew cabin. What was "tinfoil" were the mylar thermal covers on the outside of the descent stage.
No no no, we're talking about a spacesuit here. :P
That is more or less the first thought that I had. "What the heck does NASA need with a spacesuit?"
They are not even able to a man into space anymore.
I have to say, growing up, I never imagined that there would be a day when the USA was no longer able to go into space. That we must buy passage from my childhoods boogieman. I always thought that surely, by the time I am a grown man, the average person would be able to go into space.
On the other hand, maybe it is better that NASA is out of the picture. It does seem that the few private companies are making more progress in 5 years than NASA can in 15.
That's likely one of the prime design factors - how to avoid contamination.
You'll still have the hatchback hatch exposed, but that would be much smaller and can probably be made smoother specifically to aid in cleaning. You might even be able to coat it with a film prior to disembarkment that, on coming back in, could be peeled off and processed.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Worm green or yellow with black stripes. Both are indicators that this is something most brains lock on to, and don't fuck with it.
Accoring to Buz Aldrin, the panels were thin enough that they would pop during presurization and go 'bongggg...' - like an oil can.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
They're fines, not dust! Calling fines dust is like calling dust gravel!
Now they have a new space suite, they must travel ;-).
That may have been good enough in the days of 14 kps modems
...but now we need spacesuits with ADSL?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
There's wind erosion on Mars so the dust over there is pretty smooth... nothing like the jagged nasty Moon stuff.
1. wasnt this on Top Gear last year? when james may drove around the lunar rover they're never going to actually use? pretty sure it was.
2. the phrase 'rear entry spacesuit' is fucking hiLARious.
Come read my stupid blagablog. Rants and Giggles
The atmosphere inside was pure oxygen at 0.2 bar, allowing the walls of the LEM to be very thin. Still, more like an oil drum than like tinfoil.
It made me think of the film Andromeda Strain (1969), but while googlising for a picture, I found this 1954 image from a nuclear facility.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/tail-of-hot-suit-serves-as-entrance/
Yes, these have 'tails', but the climbing-in-through-the-back part is there.
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
"Man has no fashion sense and if he can get away wearing the same shirt everyday, he will. ;)"
Indeed, I'm he, I order 25 black shirts every couple of months and hence I always know what to wear, while my wife struggles each evening what to wear the next day.
I can do without that.
Oil cans are quite a bit thicker than tin foil. You don't need to take special care to avoid breaking oil cans.
But still someone actually CHOSE to make it the color lime green, while there are so many other colors!
I found their design prototype.
To infinity and beyond!
I order 25 black shirts every couple of months and hence I always know what to wear
I knew Steve Jobs wasn't dead!
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
I order 25 black shirts every couple of months and hence I always know what to wear
You are aware that there are things called washing machines? You don't actually need to wear clothes until they smell then throw them away.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I seem to remember reading/hearing that the LEM walls were on the order of soda-can thickness, or perhaps more like double that. We're talking order-of-magnitude here, it wasn't oildrum-thick, for instance. Someone else talked of the "ping" or "bong" sound/feeling when they pressurized it, and that squares with my source. In addition, a good pocket knife could have cut through the walls.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Two thoughts come to my mind on the color. First, green could be the only color this fabric comes in at the moment. It might be some industrial material used in manufacturing, and was ordered for testing to see if it would work. If proven to work, they will then worry about color and style of the suit. My other thought was that this is a safety feature. If the suit is being designed for use on the Moon or Mars, you might want a highly visible color should you need to search for a lost astronaut.
The low res. images don't help. I really want to see closeup photos/video of this new docking hatch. It might make the suit look ugly, but it sure does make it more versatile.
ground-side is not better due to lag and more you get away from the earth the high the lag times get.
NASA should really talk to Blizzard or Bioware about how to make astronauts look like Space Marines.
I dunno about that, it looks like they're already well on their way towards that.
Slap a large drill on the hand, and NASA could have their astronauts dressed like Big Daddys.
No, the greatest advantage is that you can be sure the thing is air tight *before* anybody gets in to it. Checking for damage just became a whole lot safer!
That author's photo at the end is bloody terrifying...
Back on topic... I wonder what the mechanisms are for the new CO2 scrubbers.
So the docking connector is behind your head? And I assume you have to rotate it somewhat to fix it in position? That really sounds like it could be really awkward to actually dock with the spaceship.
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
This is an old idea. I believe the old Apollo missions' suits were designed this way to prevent the fine (and very sharp) dust of the moon from contaminating the lunar module. Can't believe we've regressed so far.
"Never Give Up! Never Surrender!"
Oh, wrong movie...
"To Infinity... And Beyond!"
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I seem to remember reading/hearing that the LEM walls were on the order of soda-can thickness
I knew I should have used scare quotes for "tinfoil" :)
Soda-can thickness is a good description of how I imagined it. Thick enough that it doesn't tear when it flexes but thin enough to rupture if you fell against it the wrong way.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Bringing all the crap from outside inside isn't such a good idea either. The moon dust issues from all of the Lunar landings was a real eye-opener, and a serious problem they never did solve. That could easily have killed an entire crew.
Toad
It would be nice if two suits could connect without the ship as well in an emergency.
Next model Z-2 will have emergency connection hatch near the groin.
Indeed, I'm he, I order 25 black shirts every couple of months and hence I always know what to wear, while my wife struggles each evening what to wear the next day.
You don't really have a wife, do you?
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
Actually you cannot trademark colors.
Besides I think Disney/Pixar will be rather honored that the modern spacesuit will try to resemble their spaceman!
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
"oil-canning" (that sound) was normal, and the LEMs walls did it. It costs an automaker a fortune to prevent "oil-canning" on hoods and hatches, it wasn't a concern on the LEM.
The walls were so thin that workers damaged them (even holed them) with their safety shoes. After delays due to the repairs, it became a work-order to remove shoes when working inside the nearly finished LEMs. The cover of the ascent engine was really vulnerable. IIRC it was the first production use of chemically-etched sheet metal in the aerospace business. BTW, Grumman made the skin so thin because they were under the greatest pressure to cut weight.
Yes, this extremely thin metal was "stronger" when under tension due to internal pressurization, but it was still ridiculously thin for terrestrial purposes.
Kelly, Thomas J. Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module. Washington [D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001]
Woods, W. David. How Apollo Flew to the Moon. New York: Springer Verlag, 2008. Ebook (Kindle).
I'll bet you're an Apple user! Who cares what a tool looks like?
Free Martian Whores!
The tool's girlfriend?
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
One of the workers in the LEM dropped a screwdriver, which punched a hole in the floor. I know too much trivia . . .
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
http://code.google.com/p/openvirgle/wiki/SpacePod People need space pods instead (like in 2001). Why would anyone want to put on a space suit in space? If you need something in an emergency, NASA has a big bag people can go into developed for the shuttle. If you need to go into a confined space, use a tele-operated small robot. Can anyone cite any reason to put a person in a "space suit" suit other than for generating "people in space" publicity? Shirt-sleeve pods are also much more comfortable than space suits.
From the link:
====
The "shirtsleeve" utility space pod is probably common to all space efforts. It is a self-contained and portable/drivable container/ship that allows for the operator to work in the field, but in an environmentally controlled space that requires no special equipment for life support (working in nothing more than your "shirtsleeves").
Any project that is attempted in space will require extended periods of construction or repair in a Zero-G environment. This is especially true in terms of space stations and space shipyards.
Spacesuits, while advantageous in tight environments, are ultimately inadequate to jobs lasting more than a few hours. This is because they are rather inadequate protection from micrometeorites and other spaceborne debris, and the maneuverability requirements of a suit limit the oxygen supply size that can be attached.
The space pod allows for a larger and more rigid protective shell, room for greater air supply, as well as room for a more numerous and varied assortment of tools. Ultimately, this allows for the opportunity to take jobs further from base, and to tackle larger and more complex jobs that require many different types of tools or large scale tools that would be otherwise impossible to carry around and/or utilize without mechanical assistance. The pod also has the added advantage of completely eliminating the operator specific customization requirements that spacesuits pose - pods do not need to be sized or tailored for the operator, and can be handed off from one worker to the next at shift change time with no modifications.
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
Yes, but manned transportation to the ISS can...
Sig: I stole this sig.
Well... yes. That is a pretty big advantage there.
Green would be easier to spot on the moon that white IMO.
Red might have issues on mars in a similar fashion.
The aliens still won't talk to us as they are far too busy laughing
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.