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The Evolution of Space Suit Design

Posted by samzenpus on Wed Jan 26, 2005 07:31 PM
from the spray-on-pants dept.
Space Technology
William_Lee writes "According to space.com, it looks like we may finally be on the verge of seeing a long overdue, radical redesign of space suits that will result in much lighter, more maneuverable, custom fitted suits. Now if we can actually get around to sending someone to Mars..."
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[+] Science: NASA Awards Contract For Spacesuit of the Future 61 comments
Guillermo brings news that NASA has awarded a contract for the development of the next generation of space suits for future use by astronauts in the Constellation program. The contract calls for two different levels of protection; a flexible, lightweight model for operations inside vehicles and stations, and a tougher, bulkier model built off the first for use on the moon. We've discussed spacesuit design (and what happens without them) in the past. "Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four astronauts on moon voyages and as many as six space station travelers. For short trips to the moon, the suit design will support a week's worth of moon walks. The system also must be designed to support a significant number of moon walks during potential six-month lunar outpost expeditions. In addition, the spacesuit and support systems will provide contingency spacewalk capability and protection against the launch and landing environment, such as spacecraft cabin leaks."
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  • . It is custom fitted to each astronaut using a laser scanning/electrospinlacing process.

    Do not look into the sun with your remaining eye.
    • Was it just me, or did anyone else read this:

      "Incorporated into that second skin would be electrically actuated artificial muscle fibers to enhance human strength and stamina." ....and find it a bit far fetched (not as in "technically impossible", but more like "budgetarily infeasible"?). I half expected the article to continue "... controlled by a network of mind-reading sensors, and integrated into the comm system of the nanomachines cleansing their bodies of toxins, while being able to merge with their
      • As the 'skin' is sprayed on, the fibers could be electrically or magnetically aligned prior to the skin solidifying. Fibers embedded in the skin could be designed to run through them, and a computer could send signals through the skin learning the fiber map. This would then allow the computer to take in signals through the fiber network of stress applied to the skin, and send out signals to those locations as needed, boosting the strength there.

        This leaves a lot of questions open (how to handle cross-tal

      • Re:Slice and dice (Score:5, Funny)

        by flyingsquid (813711) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @11:40PM (#11488907)
        Spray on suits?!?! We are just begging for horrible things to happen to these people by pressing clothes to the limits of physics

        If by "horrible", you mean "life threatening", then I don't know about that. But if by "horrible" you mean, "the utter agony upon removal of the suit when every single hair on your body is ripped out one by one", then yes, I agree completely.

  • soon, but we shouldn't let that get in the way of fashion. I say we should make a rover catwalk.
    Yeah baby, shake that spectrometer, OWWW!
    I apologize profusely.
  • Do you like your quasi-futuristic clothes Mr. Powers? I designed them myself.
  • A redesigned suit? How about before they do that they come and fix my toaster. It's been shooting toast at me for years because NASA reprogrammed it for 'defense from hungry aliens' If they can't fix my damn toaster, what makes them think a redesign will help?

  • About time.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jmcmunn (307798) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:40PM (#11486943)

    I was actually just watching an IMAX Nasa special the other day and was shocked to hear that the current space suits weigh in at almost 250lbs!! I know that without gravity, it doesn't matter how much you weigh, but the bulk in those suits seriously made it hard for the astronauts to do their job at times.

    A new "second skin" version of the suit would certainly make it easier on the astronauts, and would free up a ton of space for hauling more cargo up there as well.

    On a side note, Nasa was testing this cool 100ft solar array in the movie, which when folded up fit into a 7 inch tall box! It was pretty cool.
    • it may be incredibly heavy by earth measure, but the suit also includes a personalized liquid cooling system, thermal protection for the extreme temperature differences between sun and shade, and a pretty serious amount of puncture protection. While it may not fit the bill for hiking across the mars terrain, it does offer some serious advantages over what sounds like an incredibly complex and complicated applied second skin. having worn one (attended space camp far too many years ago), i'd have to say that

    • Re:About time.. (Score:4, Informative)

      by s0m3body (659892) <martin@hajduch.de> on Wednesday January 26 2005, @08:13PM (#11487222) Homepage
      it DOES matter even in space

      being free of gravity does not mean being free of inertia

    • I was actually just watching an IMAX Nasa special the other day and was shocked to hear that the current space suits weigh in at almost 250lbs!!

      So? I SCUBA dive for fun, and for the dive I like the most, under-ice diving, the drysuit, the underwear, the weights (because the suit floats), the tanks and the rest of the diving gear weight a full 100 pounds. And when you ice dive, you suit-up a long way from the hole, to which you have to walk with the gear on, and when you wear it all around you and on your

      • Re:About time.. (Score:4, Funny)

        by Dausha (546002) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @09:27PM (#11487860) Homepage
        "And when you ice dive, you suit-up a long way from the hole, to which you have to walk with the gear on, and when you wear it all around you and on your back"

        Or, you could lay on your back and let somebody push you to the hole. After all, it is ice . . . :-)

  • "Suits you well" (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tablizer (95088) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:40PM (#11486946) Homepage Journal
    Tight-fitting suits may mean that astronauts are more likely to get turned on, resulting in all kinds of mayham and soap operas. Space can get lonely. Maybe the baggy look is better afterall.
    • No, you've got it all wrong. Skin-tight high-tech suits drastically increase the odds that we'll see preteens enagage in armed combat inside giant robots [clara.net] blasphemously created from heavenly beings, leading to a really cryptic apolcalypse, any day now.

  • I can see it now... (Score:3, Funny)

    by rob_squared (821479) <rob.squared@noSPaM.gmail.com> on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:40PM (#11486950)
    ...the first medical accident when someone thinks this stuff is aerosol cheese.

  • Warning! (Score:5, Funny)

    by EdwinBoyd (810701) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:46PM (#11487004)
    This article contains material on spacesuit evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of spacesuits. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.

  • Radiation protection (Score:5, Insightful)

    by syousef (465911) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:47PM (#11487006) Journal
    A thin layer of biomaterial may be sufficient for protecting you from the vacuum of space if they get around the engineering considerations, but I for one would not want a "second skin" as my only protection from radiation and cosmic rays.

    This is a consideration particularly where there is no atmosphere absorbing any of it before it gets to you (eg the moon and Earth orbit). The Earth also has its magnetic field helping shield us.

    Also consider that the thinnner and lighter a material is the more likely a rip becomes. That one rip will easily end your life. You'd need to incorporate a system self repair of small holes and tears - perhaps a gluey substance that seals under pressure.
        • "...for example astronauts cease all EVA activity and go to the most heavily shielded area..."

          With the new dummy plug technology coming along nicely, this should hopefully be a thing of the past.

  • One problem... (Score:4, Funny)

    by jemenake (595948) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:50PM (#11487037)
    Is it just me... or do the old suits look freakin' cool and the new ones look totally gay?

    The old ones look functional, with color-coded hose hook-ups and all... like a deep-sea diver... a deep-space diver, if you will.

    These new ones... jeez... you can tell if the guy's circumcised or not! Seeing as how an astronaut is probably more likely to encounter an alien being than the rest of us land-lubbers, I'd be very concerned if the first human the martians meet is dressed like a metrosexual.
  • again, star trek precedes real life... all we need are female vulcan astronauts.

  • How much disinfo is out there? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thogard (43403) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:56PM (#11487083) Homepage
    If you read official NASA stuff, you will find that the space suits are there to keep the guys warm in the cold of space. That is total BS. Put a self warming thing in a perfect insulator and what happens? It gets hot. It turns out that since the Russians haven't figured out how to make peltier effect space suits, that many of the details of the Apollo era suits are still secret. Even some of the details of early astronaut almost dying from dehydrating in their suits haven't been released

    One of the other things is that your blood will boil or explode in space. Thats not true either. All thats needed to protect the skin is a thin layer of something like a cheap wet suit. There have been studies that show thick rubber gloves would work fine for the pressure if there was a way to get rid of the sweat.

    The real mechanical problem is keeping the head protected along with proper containment of everything the body is trying to get rid of.

    Of course the real problem is all that radiation.

      • Re:How much disinfo is out there? (Score:4, Informative)

        by thogard (43403) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @09:34PM (#11487907) Homepage
        Your blood won't boil? Bullshit.

        The last I knew, the triple point for blood was close to the triple point of water. That means you have to get a very good vacuum. Fragile lung tissue can hold something in the order of two atmospheres for most people (some its as low as .1 which is why you need to exhale while ascending when diving). Maybe you forgot about membrane pressure.

        The guy who taught me most of this stuff was a life support system division head during the days Gemini and Apollo.

        If your thrown in space, the water in your pores will evaporate and cause frostbite in every pore of your body. The water in your eyes will do the same. As will your nasal cavity and sinuses. So if you can provide a low pressure containment for your head and a way to keep the water in your skin from evaporating quickly, you won't suffer any long term effects.

  • Years and years and years ago (Score:5, Informative)

    by multiplexo (27356) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @08:26PM (#11487343) Journal
    in that lost and far-away decade of the Jerry Pournelle described in an article in Galaxy that was later reprinted in A Step Farther Out some space suit research that David Clark did in the late 1960s. This was for suits that would provide pressure via a skin tight fit. Unfortunately NASA stopped doing this research and stuck with the suits we have today, which are large, cumbersome, heavy and extremely expensive. Pournelle described how these suits would work in a couple of his novels including Birth of Fire and Exiles to Glory, it's nice to see that NASA is now getting their shit together and restarting this research.

  • KISS (Score:3)

    by argoff (142580) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @09:22PM (#11487826)
    I'm not sure if I agree with their approach. I would think that loose fitting, light, super high strength baggy outfits would be the best way to go. They could be weaved in with netted fibre, like a hot air baloon. As long as they have enough pressure to maintain proper-psi on the skin, it doesn't matter if they're a little loose. or if they puff out a little. Shoes could be regular tennies worn on the outside of the suit, maybe something similar with leather gloves. Humidity, temperature, and varying air pressure would half to be managed (maybe a high humidity zone for breathing, and a low humidity zone for sweating). A portable (roll along?) unit hooked up to a long tube would be eaiser to work with. If a problem happens, the could just disconnect the tube, walk back to the unit, and plug in there, take a spare along too. For radiation, there could be carry along umbrellas, or shelters. Maybe light protection in the suit, but not to weigh it down.

    IMHO, The idea of laser custom fit suits, and spraid on super-skin just seems like problems waiting to happen. It's better to keep it simple to use, simple to change, repair, simple to manage, and inherently uncomplicated.

  • Yea, right (Score:3, Insightful)

    by real gumby (11516) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @09:48PM (#11488017)

    C'mon guys, this isn't news. It isn't even a press release purporting to be news. It's just a gee-whizz-somebody-is-doing-research-on-an-idea news. It's so far away from being news that when it finally is, years or even decades from now, you won't be able to recogize the connection.

    Let's leave this stuff unread in in Popular Science or Technology Review where it belongs.

  • From the article (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zebra_X (13249) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @10:01PM (#11488093)
    Incorporated into that second skin would be electrically actuated artificial muscle fibers to enhance human strength and stamina.

    Right - this technology is WAY far away. Synthetic muscle fibers have been under development for the last decade. One of the first innovations were Contractle Polymers. These have since given way to other technologies - but non yet equal the strength of human muscle. In addition to make them more useful, these fibers are going to have to be multiples of the strength of human muscle. Also, the notion of a "spray on" skin that creates a powered exomuscular infrastructure requires a fusing of so many current and future technologies that this is not a particularly realistic goal at this time.

    I think what i'm trying to say - this isn't news it's a dream. Obviously people need to figure it out - but there are not going to be tangible results from such research for sometime.

  • Ventilated Space Suit (Score:4, Informative)

    by bluyonder (643628) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @11:36PM (#11488860)
    Human skin is actually a surprisingly strong pressure barrier. The conterpressure suit can be an open weave with up to millimeter sized openings. The biggest problem is figuring out how to keep pressure on the concave areas such as under the arms and behind the knees. An advantage of counterpressure suits is that a tear in the suit doesn't result in catastrophic pressure loss. It only causes injury to the area of the tear. Another problem with them is getting them on and off. It would be like putting super tight pantyhose over your whole body. (not that I know anything about that)

    Here are some papers on counterpressure suits:
    http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/BioSuitDJN_Nov03.pdf [mit.edu]
    http://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/publications/ICES02- 2311.pdf [umd.edu]
    http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/NIACPhaseIReport.pdf [mit.edu]

  • Perfect target for Centennial Challenges prizes (Score:4, Interesting)

    by FleaPlus (6935) on Thursday January 27 2005, @03:45AM (#11490238) Homepage Journal
    Things like this are the perfect target for the Centennial Challenges program, a NASA program of prize contests for private endeavours to create or accomplish things related to space exploration. Spacesuit design is an area where a small private company can make appreciable progress with a reasonable amount of investment.

    An even more specific goal is a better astronaut glove. Gloves sound like very simple things, but it's been pretty tricky so far to create a glove which can reliably remain intact in a vacuum while also giving the user a good degree of manual dexterity. A space policy analyst said the following in an article [foxnews.com]:

    In fact, the glove is the biggest problem in designing the high-pressure space suits necessary to avoid the bends (the same problem a diver has when she surfaces too quickly) when an astronaut goes out into the vacuum of space. Larger joints like shoulders and knees have special designs that are zero-volume change, but no one has yet miniaturized such a design to finger joints.

    Because this is a critical technology, and one that has great leverage in influencing launch system trades, I would propose the following:

    Build a vacuum glove box with a task box inside (perhaps an automobile engine that has to be dissassembled and reassembled). Put up a purse of a million dollars to the first person who can achieve the task working through gloves under a pressure differential of half an atmosphere, without a break.

    Unlike many space activities, it's a project that can be literally done in someone's garage, and it may spur a great amount of innovation for very low cost. Accordingly, it would make an excellent candidate for the Office of Exploration's new prize fund, and I hope they'll strongly consider it. At very low cost to the taxpayers, one or more successful concepts could lay to rest myths about the intrinsic difficulty of working in space, opening up the options for how we will get to the planets beyond redoing Apollo, perhaps saving billions in dollars, and constituting a major step toward becoming a truly spacefaring nation.
      • And how long ago was that? The space program has severe atrophy.
        • Sure we do. It's only a couple days away; the technical problems for that sort of mission (which aren't too much greater than those for going to LEO) have already been dealt with. Sure, we no longer have any Saturn Vs, but we could build a rocket better and cheaper since we've done it before. Or, we could try to push the envelope (what NASA has been attempting to do for the past couple decades - unfortunately, without too much luck on complete systems, just lots of individual component successes) to try
    • Yes, with Lord Bush's leadership, we can finally bring Democracy(c) to Mars!

    • Re:Mission To Mars (Score:5, Insightful)

      by burns210 (572621) <maburns@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:53PM (#11487060) Homepage Journal
      Just because he announced a plan doesn't mean anything. NASA isn't getting the funding(it needs massive increasesm not cutbacks) to actually DO any of the things talked about.
    • When somebody is talking so high on Bush it seems it's ment to be ironic. But I'm not sure on this one.

    • Re:Mission To Mars (Score:5, Funny)

      by PacoTaco (577292) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @07:58PM (#11487097)
      I think the President has done a fantastic job in revitalizing our space program and command him for his decisive leadership and strong character.

      When did George Bush start posting to Slashdot?

    • Re:Mission To Mars (Score:4, Insightful)

      by FleaPlus (6935) on Wednesday January 26 2005, @08:02PM (#11487136) Homepage Journal
      Thanks to the strong leadership of President Bush, we have a real plan for space, as opposed to mostly circling around Earth currently.

      Unfortunately, because it's been announced by President Bush, many people who oppose his other policies (for good reason) will also tend to oppose his space policy, even if they would support it if it were proposed by somebody else.
    • > I think the President has done a fantastic job in revitalizing our space program

      Yeah: like cutting Hubble. And racking up record defecits while privately funded firms remind us what the excitement of space exploration used to be all about.

      If Bush really wanted to show some leadership, he'd splash ISS, scrap the Shuttle, and set some realistic short-term goals that his administration would actually have to pay for.

      NASA *is* doing great work with its robotic programs. But most of those programs wer

    • What Bush has done is decimate the scientific programs of NASA and had the agency over to the aerospace lobby. But with comments like...

      "mostly circling around Earth"

      you have made your impression of science apparent

      Did you know that the "science of the outer planets" scientific research line for 2005
      Was just cut? Yup, wiped off the board. This was a small program, only a few million, and it funded some very interesting work... Well, it's gone now, I guess that makes you feel very patriotic...

      "God Bl
    • There thing that would stop me from going into space in a new or old suit it small, but important (to me).
      What if I get an itchy nose?
      I know it sounds silly, but I'm serious. I can imagine getting a serious, claustrophobic panic attack in one of those things, of something as minor as that. Being trapped in this thing and unable to take it off.

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