MIT Works On Mars Space Suit
An anonymous reader writes in with a story about MIT's work on space suits to be used by Mars astronauts. "When we send the first humans to Mars we will need to get the most scientific data in the smallest amount of time while not exhausting our astronauts in the process. Dava J. Newman has been working on a 'biosuit' that's designed to do just that....Dava’s suit would be a huge leap forward in terms of construction as well. They’ve enlisted the expertise of Dainese, an Italian manufacturer of motorcycle racing 'leathers'—leather and carbon-fiber suits designed to protect racers traveling at up to 200 mph.
The suit would be a degree safer than current space suits. While a puncture or scrape in a traditional space suit would cause a dramatic decrease in pressure and would be traumatic, even deadly, the 'biosuit' could be patched with a high-tech ace bandage. The wearer would wrap it around the punctured area to stop the leak almost instantly. Pressure loss would be minimal and the astronaut would be able to continue working and finish his or her task. "
I think he might be over-anticipating here.
A.I. Research. The peculiar science in which we know the question and we know the answer, but can't show the working
In normal spacesuits, it is painful to use your hands and eventually you will lose your fingernails due to chafing inside of the gloves. From a user's comfort perspective, this is probably the biggest issue. Spacewalkers would love this tech if it has decent flexible gloves that are resistant to puncturing (which is among the reasons traditional gloves are built so rigidly).
Seriously, that amount of research and money, all the way out on BFE Mars, and a suit tear means using a glorified ace bandage? That suit should be virtually impenetrable and/or self-healing.
... is the need to maintain sufficient internal pressure to sustain human life without being too stiff to work in for long periods. Suits made more skin tight are the current area of research. That seems to be what MIT is working on.
I'd like to see some work along the lines of a smart G suit type garment that can sense the occupant's movements and compensate by reshaping itself dynamically. Probably something based on artificial muscle fibers rather than compressed air.
Have gnu, will travel.
In his Mars trilogy beginning with Red Mars , Kim Stanley Robinson spent quite some time musing on suits for exploring the surface of Mars. I found it interesting that, although Mars has a very thin atmosphere compared to Earth, the presence of any atmosphere at all makes it much easier to design a flexible, comfortable suit than for the landings on the moon or spacewalks.
The suit would be a degree safer
Is that more or less than a "smidge"?
While a puncture of scrape
I'll assume that's meant to be "or scrape." What constitutes a scrape in a spacesuit, anyway?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
While an easily patchable suit seems like a great idea, what we really need is a suit that patches itself. Astronauts may not be able to see or reach the site of a suit puncture, in which case their screwed. A suit that has some sort of self-sealing properties or maybe with a thin layer of that green goop used to seal bicycle tires from punctures would be a better idea IMO.
This is old news, but there are better images out there. The designer tends to model it herself - if you've got it, flaunt it, I suppose.
Her own design page, including some photos of the construction process: http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/
What looks to be a hapless grad student modeling it (but that's just a guess on my part): http://alumweb.mit.edu/groups/amita.old/images/people/Newman.jpg
Cnet slideshow: http://news.cnet.com/2300-11397_3-6197224.html
I have no fewer than six different space suit designs appropriate for Mars and wearable by humans. I also have a couple for Reticulans but I can't make them, just trade for them.
UFO Afterlight: underrated :)
I suppose sooner or later, someone had to suggest the "duct tape" approach to space suit repair. And why not? A small puncture or tear would probably not compromise insulation very much, so just sealing the hole temporarily would seem to be a good solution.
Well, I think they're talking about hard-shell suits here, so I am assuming a "scrape" is probably a breach more like a scratch or tear than a hole.
"Temperature and moisture control".
Remember the Far Side cartoon where two scientists are staring at a chalkboard and "magic happens" is written in the middle? Yeeeeaaaaaaaah.
Newman needs to spend less time showing herself off wearing mockups and playing celebrity space cadet - and more time actually working on the practical problems. A significant amount of sweat is generated by the body even under light exertion. Moderate exertion is even worse. For example, when cycling in comfortable summer temperatures, it's easy to go through a litre of water or more every hour.
There's also the problem of insulation from temperatures ranging from as high as 31 degrees below freezing, to -161 degrees F. That's roughly the temperature where carbon dioxide precipitates into a solid, folks.
Please help metamoderate.
Is this suit full of fail already?
I was under the impression you didn't really need a pressure suit on Mars. A good winter coat and an oxygen mask, sure.
Now keeping Earth bacterial fauna off Mars is another issue. But there's no deadly fear of a suit puncture.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Jerry Pournelle was writing SF stories using suits just like this back in the 1970s. HERE is a page describing this suit, and including a quote from Pournelle's story "Exiles To Glory".
There's only one way to learn how to build a colony in space; do it. Science is a great reason to do so, but merely the possibility of expanding off a single planet and into the universe should be reason enough.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Her website shows a list of papers on this subject:
www.elasticspacesuit.com/documentation/
First one is from 1968. I know it is a bit pessimistic but this seems like the skin tight space suit is one of those perpetual tech dreams (alongside flying cars, fusion power plants, space elevators, hypersonic aircraft etc.) where once in a while someone comes up and says that we have the technology now or is just around the corner (only wait for 5 more years...).
From looking at the history of technological innovation one realizes that if some new technology takes longer than at most 5 years to be turned into a promising(!) prototype chances are it will never ever really work (but will still be funded because the potential benefits are so huge).
Ah you know what I just looked up the history of the jet engine (Timeline of jet power) and realized it took almost 40 years from the first prototype to the first jet powered aircraft, so scratch the above comment.
What's strange is how old and vauge it all is. There's pics of the same stuff from 2000. Have they made any progress since then? They've got some cool pictures, but are they willing to set foot in a Mars-simulated atmosphere yet? If not, what do they need to do to get there, and how much progress have they made on those problems in the last decade?
I don't reply to ACs
you again! excellent!
"hey guize, please get back to being boring and having no hope - you're all spoiling my downer here."