New NASA Spacesuit Looks Like Buzz Lightyear's

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New NASA Spacesuit Looks Like Buzz Lightyear's

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 21, 2012 @02:30AM from the to-copyright-infringement-and-beyond dept.

SternisheFan sends this excerpt from Space.com: It might make the astronaut wearing it look like a real-life Buzz Lightyear, but a new prototype spacesuit that NASA just finished testing represents the first major overhaul in spacesuit technology since 1998. Flexible, white, and lime green accented, the suit — known as the Z-1 — is designed not only to help astronauts comfortably maneuver during spacewalks in microgravity, but also to deftly move about when walking on the surface of a planet or other smaller heavenly body, like an asteroid. [Engineer Amy Ross] said, 'the shuttle EMU splits at the waist and you put pants on and you put the top on separately and they connect in the middle. Whereas with this suit, the subject crawls in through the back, and then we just shut the door.' Creating a back-entry suit solves a few of the problems spacewalkers often face during trips to the International Space Station. Using airlocks to depressurize is a time consuming, exhausting process. By using a back-entry design, the astronauts won't need to go through an airlock at all. The suit hooks up to the outside of the spacecraft using the "space port" opening, and the spacewalker simply climbs in and detaches."

26 of 81 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Seriously? Not news by dywolf · 2012-12-21 02:33 · Score: 3, Informative

Not new news anyway. This is like 6 months old.

--
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
1. Re:Seriously? Not news by afidel · 2012-12-21 03:03 · Score: 2
  
  Older than that, anyone following the Surface Exploration Vehicle saw it over two years ago.
  
  --
  There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Andromeda Suit by scifiai · 2012-12-21 02:35 · Score: 2

Reminds me of the Wildfire bio suits from the 1971 version of The Andromeda Strain.

--
www.scifiai.com
mud room by phrostie · 2012-12-21 02:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

"The suit hooks up to the outside of the spacecraft using the "space port" open"
what always worried me about this is leaving the suits out exposed and then needing to trust them.
I hope they atleast use some form of a mud room. unpressurized, but not constantly exposed to radiation and micro metorites.
just my .2061 USD
1. Re:mud room by DaveV1.0 · 2012-12-21 02:44 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  If the suits are hooked up to the spacecraft as specified, it would be rather easy to test the integrity of the suits by inflating them to a specific pressure and waiting to see if the pressure drops. In fact, one could leave them inflated and if the pressure drops the access door won't open.
  
  --
  There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
2. Re:mud room by egcagrac0 · 2012-12-21 03:17 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Yeah, but a mud room means less patching of holes in the suits, while still being able to do pressure tests.
3. Re:mud room by Joce640k · 2012-12-21 03:53 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Gee, I hope NASA thought of that! Maybe you should call them, just in case...
  
  --
  No sig today...
4. Re:mud room by compro01 · 2012-12-21 04:04 · Score: 2
  
  Wouldn't you just use a vacuum pump to pump out most of the air in the airlock back into the ship before exposing it to the atmosphere/vacuum of another planet?
  
  Most, yes, but not all. You still lose a little air every cycle, which needs to be replaced.
  
  --
  upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
To infinity...... by who_stole_my_kidneys · 2012-12-21 02:38 · Score: 5, Funny

.....and [Censored by Disney due to copyright infringement]
...and a dupe by dereference · 2012-12-21 02:39 · Score: 5, Informative

From July: http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/07/26/2258227/
1. Re:...and a dupe by cervesaebraciator · 2012-12-21 02:48 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Maybe it's a scheme for the karma starved to pick through the comments in the July article and repost Score:5 comments.
2. Re:...and a dupe by Sarten-X · 2012-12-21 03:11 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  56k modems in the US are/were limited by FCC regs to about 53k [lowendmac.com].
  From this url [2fords.net]:
  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.
  I win, right?
  
  --
  You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Picture is wrong. by SuricouRaven · 2012-12-21 02:39 · Score: 2

1. Missing the backpack, which will add a lot of mass and volume and alter balance.
2. It isn't inflated. Spacesuits have a significent pressure inside, which makes moving in them something like trying to shape a balloon animal, or Stay Puft climbing a skyscraper. Even at low-pressure, enriched-oxygen any non-rigid suit is going to inflate.
Great... by Cid+Highwind · 2012-12-21 02:45 · Score: 3, Insightful

Now if only they had a man-rated spacecraft to put these "space ports" in. Somehow I don't think this is going to be retro-fittable to Soyuz.

--
0 1 - just my two bits
1. Re:Great... by afidel · 2012-12-21 03:09 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Dragon, it has not yet received NASA blessing for manned flight but that's mostly checkboxes. In fact due to the nature of the Falcon 9's Merlin engine it's probably safer than anything NASA has previously man rated. Remember that the Shuttle with a 1% mission failure profile was man rated.
  
  --
  There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Re:Saw it at the movies by olsmeister · 2012-12-21 03:02 · Score: 2

Better hope not. Cue MPAA lawsuit against NASA ... hilarity ensues.
Re:Saw it at the movies by AlphaFreak · 2012-12-21 03:11 · Score: 2

Perhaps you saw it in a documentary. That's the way the Orlan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlan_space_suit) russian space suits work (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OrlanDonning.jpg)
These guys tend to thing about everything... by egcagrac0 · 2012-12-21 03:25 · Score: 4, Interesting

Any word on the purpose of the lime green accents?
1. Re:These guys tend to thing about everything... by slashmydots · 2012-12-21 03:32 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  From NASA: "It's to fend off alien predators by confusing them and making it hard to focus their eyes on the suit."
Re:Back entry jokes... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-21 03:56 · Score: 3, Funny

A lot of us women actually enjoy back-entry, thank you very much.
Re:Back entry jokes... by SternisheFan · 2012-12-21 04:29 · Score: 2

This link seems to work : http://www.space.com/19003-nasa-z1-future-spacesuit.html
Mail Online link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2250548/Nasa-reveals-new-spacesuit--designed-fan-Buzz-Lightyear.html
Slashgear link: http://www.slashgear.com/nasa-testing-on-prototype-z-1-space-suit-is-complete-20261770/
HuffingtonPost U.K. link: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mobileweb/2012/12/21/nasa-new-space-suit-buzz-lightyear-toy-story_n_2343677.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
Hollywood by Richy_T · 2012-12-21 04:36 · Score: 3, Funny

If they're going with Hollywood inspiration, the helmets need to have lights that shine directly into the face of the wearer. You know it makes sense.
Main difference... by Richy_T · 2012-12-21 04:42 · Score: 5, Funny

When you pull the string, instead of saying "To Infinity and Beyond", it says "To the moon and that's enough for another 40 years or more"
Re:No. by steviesteveo12 · 2012-12-21 05:09 · Score: 3, Insightful

I have a mod stalker who is modding down my past comments and is too much of a cowardly pussy to admit it or face me.
You should test this theory by making another account.
All dressed up... by judoguy · 2012-12-21 05:37 · Score: 2

and no place to go.

--
Peace is easy to achieve, just surrender. Liberty is much harder get/keep.
I want a big spacesuit by Spy+Handler · 2012-12-21 06:02 · Score: 2

the upper torso area should be bigger than this, and the tube from shoulders down to the elbows should be of a larger diameter.
That way, you will be able to pull your arms into the torso area and use your hand to access the inside of the suit.
What's the advantage? You can scratch your face or your back. This is very important! Going for long periods without the ability to scratch an itch is very demoralizing psychologically. Plus by having access to your face, you can wipe away tears, blow your nose, and do many other things.
Another plus is in the event of a puncture. With current spacesuits, you're pretty much toast. With the big suit, you can put a finger on the puncture from the inside. This will allow you to hold pressure almost indefinitely.