World Space Walk Simultaneously Puts Three Mars-Capable Spacesuits To the Test

Zothecula writes "On October 8, three teams in various parts of the world participated in an unprecedented simultaneous test of three experimental spacesuits. Coordinated from a mission control center in Innsbruck, Austria run by the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF), World Space Walk 2013 aims at setting standards for developing suits for the future exploration of the planet Mars."

Comments

Baby steps

[wjcofkc]

Spaceships need space suites too.

Another important experiment that we need to perform - and that somehow never gets talked about - is radiation proofing an interplanetary spaceship. The only reason we can leave people in orbit for extensive periods is because they are within enough of the Earth's electromagnetic field to be protected from the bulk of solar radiation, making it easier to shield. The biggest obstacle in going to Mars will likely prove to be shielding a spacecraft from extreme radiation over the long transit time.

Re:Baby steps

[khallow]

The biggest obstacle in going to Mars will likely prove to be shielding a spacecraft from extreme radiation over the long transit time.

You need mass with protons in it.

Re:Baby steps

[wjcofkc]

If we are lucky, graphene will come to our rescue on this issue too. There are early indications that this will be so. I'm sure it would take a bazillion layers, but that would surely still be orders of magnitude lighter than heavy metals. At the worst, say maybe lead would still have to incorporated, but it would still probably be practical (light enough) to get it off the ground in the first place. I swear graphene is shaping up to be the most important discovery in the history of discovery.

Re:Baby steps

[fredrik70]

zeppelins got nothing on space-poo: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/mars-mission-to-use-astronaut-feces-as-radiation-shield/article4471834.ece

Re:Baby steps

[green is the enemy]

The mass has been estimated in the hundreds of tons: wiki

The propellant mass required to accelerate it to a Mars transfer orbit will be pretty enormous, but maybe not impossibly large, especially if we use reusable rockets to get it into Earth orbit. I wonder if the majority of the acceleration could be done over a multi-year time frame using ion engines, and then the Mars transfer spacecraft docks with the crew capsule and puts in the rest of the delta-V using chemical engines. In any case, this shielded spacecraft will only be useful one-way. It would not be possible to slow it into a Mars orbit and then accelerate it back into an Earth-transfer orbit. So it's a one-way shielded trip to Mars. I wish we were working on something like this... It might even be possible to send the return spacecraft (unmanned) on a large looping orbit that upon intersecting Mars changes into a fast Mars-Earth transfer orbit. The crew then blasts off Mars in a small capsule and docks with the return spacecraft.

Re:That's great...

[wjcofkc]

It's not that we don't have the means to get there, surely we do have the technology. The problem is that, with the exception of the recently emerging and still infantile commercial space industry, human space flight is the product of, and at the limiting whim of political posturing. As long as politics are leading us no where fast, we are stuck on or at least around this wonderful moldy rock.

Re:Is it really a space suit

[wjcofkc]

That's not a bad point. It really would make sense to have classifications such as: space class suite, Luna class suite, Mars class suite, etc... After all, the needs are very different and unique to each environment.

Re:That's great...

[TWiTfan]

Maybe NASA can pay the Russians to ferry them to Mars.

Re:Summary

[cusco]

Technology has now gotten good enough that amateur and university groups can do this type of work. You don't think that's cool? I do.

Re:Uggly

[wjcofkc]

It is only in science fiction that the aesthetics of a space suit are a priority.