NASA's First New Spacesuit In 20 Years Is Its Own Airlock

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NASA's First New Spacesuit In 20 Years Is Its Own Airlock

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 26, 2012 @04:26PM from the astronaut's-new-clothes dept.

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."

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To infinity.... by MrQuacker · 2012-07-26 16:34 · Score: 5, Funny

and beyond!
1. Re:To infinity.... by margeman2k3 · 2012-07-26 16:59 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It's almost identical to Buzz's suit.
  
  * Green on the chest piece
  * Green at the elbows
  * Green around the crotch
  * Green around the hands
  * Bubble dome
  It's just missing the decals and wings.
  
  Just for comparison:
  NASA
  Pixar
2. Re:To infinity.... by andrewa · 2012-07-26 18:59 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  And has a "rear entry panel". Woody, are you listening?
  
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snide remark.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-26 16:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

20 years old and it is a dinosaur? You young'ins are obsessed with the Shiny.
Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacuum? by leftie · 2012-07-26 16:47 · Score: 4, Interesting

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.
Why even bother... by stretch0611 · 2012-07-26 16:48 · Score: 4, Insightful

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?

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1. Re:Why even bother... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-26 18:24 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Because governments spend money to make things that do not generate profit. Thats one of the reason FOR a government. It is not a business. It is for the public good. This space suit will not generate money, it will generate science. Knowledge. You know, things that we are beneficial for mankind, yet make no money on their own. A corporation would be sued by its share holders for doing something like that. Unless it had a clear profit motive.
  The "space companies" will be sending satellites into orbit (or tourists), not going to Mars. They will be in it for the money. When WE, as a PEOPLE, want to go to another planet, we need a government to do it.
2. Re:Why even bother... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2012-07-26 18:43 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Congress constantly targets NASA for budget cuts...
  Congress cuts NASA's budget when the money is not being spent in enough Congressional Districts. NASA isn't about space to Congress. To them it is about getting federal money spent where it helps them get re-elected.
  So if the new space suit is constructed of components built in all 435 Congressional Districts, the budget for the suit will not be cut. Really simple, isn't it?
  The 1st Congressional District of New Jersey, Camden County, gets to make the middle finger of the right hand! Youse guys gotta prowblem wid dat?
  
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Meh. by Altanar · 2012-07-26 16:55 · Score: 4, Insightful

Was hoping for something more like this: http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/
1. Re:Meh. by aXis100 · 2012-07-26 20:03 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Also, where do you put your testicles? It's all well and good to show a woman in the suit, but I wouldnt want mechanical counter-pressure on my block and tackle.
N00b by Lord+Kano · 2012-07-26 16:57 · Score: 4, Funny

14.4k

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1. Re:N00b by Muad'Dave · 2012-07-27 00:36 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  56k modems in the US are/were limited by FCC regs to about 53k.
  From this url:
  The chilling news came just days before U.S. Robotics shipped its x2 modems: the FCC won't let modems transfer data at a rate faster than 53 kbps. The legal snafu has to do with a long-standing FCC regulation known as Part 68, which was never intended to affect modems. The problem is that if you send too much power through the phone line, your conversation can get loud enough to creep into neighboring lines. This is called crosstalk, and Part 68 was meant to prevent it. But to reach 56 kbps, the new modems must send more power down the line.
  
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Soviets by seawall · 2012-07-26 16:57 · Score: 4, Informative

I believe the Soviets had a "hatch-back" earlier. I expect it makes suiting up quite a bit faster and simpler.
Re:Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacu by EdIII · 2012-07-26 17:05 · Score: 5, Informative

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.
Re:Ugly..... by maharvey · 2012-07-26 17:21 · Score: 5, Funny

Shouldn't that be the hatchback of Notre-dame?
Re:Ugly..... by robthebloke · 2012-07-26 17:32 · Score: 5, Funny

To infinity and beyond! (Is it just me, or have they actually built Buzz Lightyear?)
Re:Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacu by mbone · 2012-07-26 17:38 · Score: 4, Insightful

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.
Re:Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacu by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-26 17:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

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.
Re:Ugly..... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-26 18:40 · Score: 5, Funny

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.
Re:The USA definition of privitizing means... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-26 18:41 · Score: 5, Funny

a few Anglo-Saxon guys pocket the rest of the cash.
Oh, them. That's the Beowulf cluster you've heard tell of.
Re:Disney IP, FTW! by kaws · 2012-07-26 19:05 · Score: 5, Funny

No no no, we're talking about a spacesuit here. :P
Re:Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacu by Spy+Handler · 2012-07-26 21:09 · Score: 4, Informative

There's wind erosion on Mars so the dust over there is pretty smooth... nothing like the jagged nasty Moon stuff.
Re:Depressing, isn't it... by turbidostato · 2012-07-26 22:02 · Score: 4, Interesting

"It does seem that the few private companies are making more progress in 5 years than NASA can in 15"
Private companies are not even at Gemini level; that's about NASA's 45 years ago, so I'd say you are a bit overenthusiastic, don't you think so?
Re:Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacu by lxs · 2012-07-26 22:21 · Score: 4, Informative

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.
old idea? by zmollusc · 2012-07-26 22:38 · Score: 4, Interesting

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.

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