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. "

Comments

Major issue with space suits ...

[PPH]

... 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.

Mars does have air pressure

[CRCulver]

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.

Re:Mars does have air pressure

[Hentes]

On the other hand, Mars suits have to withstand the sandstorms there.

Re:Mars does have air pressure

[sjames]

That may or may be worse than the moon where the dust particles are unpolished (and so very abrasive) and stick to everything due to static charges that don't dissipate in vacuum.

Re:Careful tiger,

[cusco]

spacesuit designs have already been made in previous flights by at least three different nations

Yes, and all of them suck to one extent or another. The suit is one of the main reasons why EVAs are very limited in duration, they spend a lot of their energy fighting against the suit to move. Colonists, as opposed to explorers, need something that can be worn for most of a day without exhausting the wearer. They'll probably never get as easy as the zip-up space suit with the bubble helmet of Buck Rogers, but there's a lot of room for improvement.