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Elon Musk Posts First Photo of SpaceX's New Spacesuit (arstechnica.com)
Early Wednesday morning, SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted a photo of the spacesuit that will be used by astronauts flying aboard the company's Dragon spacecraft, perhaps as early as next year. Ars Technica reports: In his Instagram post, Musk added that this suit was not a mock-up but rather a fully functional unit. "Already tested to double vacuum pressure," he wrote. "Was incredibly hard to balance aesthetics and function. Easy to do either separately." (Double vacuum pressure simply means the suit was probably inflated to twice the pressure of sea level and then put into a vacuum chamber.) Musk gave no other technical information about the suit. Most strikingly, it is white, in contrast to the very blue spacesuits unveiled by Boeing in January. These are not, strictly speaking, "space suits." Rather, they are more properly flight suits designed to be worn during the ride to space and again on the ride back down to Earth. They have a limited time in which they can operate in a full vacuum and are not intended for spacewalks.
why does it need to show a flag?
These are not, strictly speaking, "space suits." Rather, they are more properly flight suits designed to be worn during the ride to space and again on the ride back down to Earth. They have a limited time in which they can operate in a full vacuum and are not intended for spacewalks.
So call the flight suit a flight suit. Different tools are for different jobs, and giving them a distinct name helps to avoid confusion.
"Space suit" = "Flight Suit" != Space suit. Why? Why call it something that is not? Enough with the bullshit. There is way too much as it is.
Not sure how it looks inflated but it certainly looks like a motorcycle outfit.
I do like the fact it has an actual helmet, unlike the blue suit which looks like a completely "rollupable" uprated biohazard suit. Keep in mind these are just "pressure suits", not "space suits"
Those crinkles are not going to be fun when filled with atmospheric pressure. What makes space suits bulky is that they don't change volume when moving, keeping the vacuum from sucking the body into a particular configuration it cannot get out again.
The photograph does not look anything like that. So what gives? Is the crinkly layer not actually getting atmospheric pressure? That would mean that there is another layer below that does. I just don't see the space for a constant-volume enclosure inside.
Then let the Elon Musk bashing begin!
It's been the favourite pastime for trolls on Slashdot these last years, after all.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
Cuz if I wuz a spaceman
You'd sure care about me!
Wha?
Oh, yur breakin my heart!
Yur tearin it apart!
So,
uh,
FUCK YOU!
Bang!
Bang!
I mean, it's function is to keep you alive. There's no _balance_ in that, that's a zero fail mission. Balance implies trade offs. By definition this is one of those times you can't take away from B for A... at all. If there's _room_ for A, sure make some A... but leave B the fuck alone.
Can you poop in it?
...to go into orbit, and not to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, why should one care about aestethics ?
... and function."
LOL. Right there you can tell they haven't got a clue. Aesthetics are completely irrelevant when it comes to mission critical components like spacesuits. And why didn't they use a solid spacesuit? A hundred times cheaper to manufacture, and much stronger.
"Already tested to double vacuum pressure".
What is "double vacuum pressure"? Surely a vacuum is a vacuum? How can you have a double vacuum?
He's like a car salesman that starts by showing you the cup holders.
He promises us the Hyperloop, then shows us the inside of its cabin.
He promises human flight to the ISS, then shows us the space, oh wait, I mean flight suit, that will be worn by travelers.
When will he show us what he promised to show us?
Look pretty awesome.
That's really the Stig's new suite.
I'm curious about the part "hard to balance aesthetics and function". How will it look like? Space Marine Power Armor? Exo-skeleton? Really curious to see.
nt
Right ...
That suit looks similar to my Halloween costume from 30 years ago...My mom made for me...
If cabin pressure drops, the suit balloons up and makes it hard to move. An excellent way to counter this is by simply leaving less air in the suit, i.e. make it skintight. It's a shame they didn't do this; I was rather looking forward to our glorious future society where everyone walks around in skintight suits...
I mean, it's the future right? We have 3D printed houses and 3D printed cars now?
The interesting picture would be one with it inflated.
This one is just cool marketing.
This is interesting because X usually brings the beef.
The SpaceX suit is queer.
I think this flight suit was tested in Space 1999...
Just open the hatch and piss into the vacuum. Problem solved.
"But we made ours with a special rabbit ear on the top so we could pipe in some music." -- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a 2004 film starring Bill Murray as eccentric oceanographer Steve Zissou
NASA produced a book some few years ago on the history of flight suits called Dressing for Altitude. It's not the world's most riveting read, but it is freely available online and it may (somewhat ironically) have the best design and typography of any book I've read.
Also in a similarly space-related bent, if anyone here has not read John Clark's Ignition! then they should certainly do so. The subtitle of the book should probably be "The secret history of rocket fuel", but the author went for "An informal history of liquid rocket propellants" instead.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
I actually had the dead-tree version of that book and it is gorgeous. I found it in a little free library in my neighborhood, and returned it when finished.
It's an excellent read and makes clear why Playtex won the contract for the Apollo suits, against all odds until you see the history. 3 cheers for NASA choosing the best.
Elon Musk or Daft Punk?
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
Looks like a prototype for Stormtrooper armor.
Galactic Empire confirmed!
then it's crap.
Since these will be used for the short vanity flight of the very rich, can we not call them astronauts and, instead, call them Space Douches, or something else?
I would say: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" - though I want to avoid religious connotation hence I would be categorized as a Elon-wanker. ;-)
But give to the man what he deserves, and he deserves at least some small praise. That some un-rightfully praise him into heavens is not his fault, and doesn't mean he deserves to be un-rightfully bashed neither. He's not at fault for wankers, nor for slashdot-stories, so I fail to see the logic why it would be justified to bash him without reason; it's as silly as blindly idolizing him without reason. Silliness and irrationality is not made less by adding silliness and irrationality. Both are sides immature in that case.
The most mature thing, is to be rational about things and evaluate it properly. This means acknowledging he has his faults, but also that he has accomplished some good things.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---