Posted on 07/17/2007 7:21:53 AM PDT by TChris
In the 40 years that humans have been traveling into space, the suits they wear have changed very little. The bulky, gas-pressurized outfits give astronauts a bubble of protection, but their significant mass and the pressure itself severely limit mobility.
Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, wants to change that.
Newman is working on a sleek, advanced suit designed to allow superior mobility when humans eventually reach Mars or return to the moon. Her spandex and nylon BioSuit is not your grandfather's spacesuit--think more Spiderman, less John Glenn.
Traditional bulky spacesuits "do not afford the mobility and locomotion capability that astronauts need for partial gravity exploration missions. We really must design for greater mobility and enhanced human and robotic capability," Newman says.
Newman, her colleague Jeff Hoffman, her students and a local design firm, Trotti and Associates, have been working on the project for about seven years. Their prototypes are not yet ready for space travel, but demonstrate what they're trying to achieve--a lightweight, skintight suit that will allow astronauts to become truly mobile lunar and Mars explorers.
Newman anticipates that the BioSuit could be ready by the time humans are ready to launch an expedition to Mars, possibly in about 10 years. Current spacesuits could not handle the challenges of such an exploratory mission, Newman says.
(Excerpt) Read more at web.mit.edu ...
Thank You.. 7 of 9 has always had my undivided attention....
We are celebrating our 31st anniversary and this helped me re-focus.
:-)
I think this is an early attempt at a "partial pressure" suit that mechanically provided pressure, rather than a gas bubble.
remind me, did we ever see any of the other 9?
we are not worthy :(
No Marta?
Did you take a look at the suit? (no way that could hold pressure)
My implication is that this was for publicity only
No Marta?(laugh) "I mentioned the bisque..."
What happens is that your lungs start to work backward, giving up gases, including O2, to the vacuum.
You would most likely experience a red-out from the capillaries bursting in your eyes.
Any way, most fit people probably could survive for about 90 seconds. At that point, they'd have to be immediately put in pressurized 02 to have a chance of surviving.
In space, skin in a pretty good insulator without air transferring heat, but all the moisture and oils evaporate.
Oh, and if you're near a star, even at the Earth-Sun distance, any exposed flesh will get a nasty sunburn.
Did I mention that it gets to uncomfortable in 10 seconds or less after the loss of pressure?
WOW! Did she ever grow up! Probably showing my age since I imagine she grew up 30 years ago but the last time I saw her in anything she was, I don’t know, ten years old.
If she only had a usb port......
I was struck by the similarities.
She was a real babe at the time of that pic. She’s still attractive, but has, uh, expanded a bit...
Zorbing - human-sized hamster ball (MAKE Magazine)
“She’s still attractive, but has, uh, expanded a bit...”
Women tend to do that you know.
Do they come in ‘clear to the waist’?
Comparable to the tight “skinsuits” of the Honor Harrington sci-fiction novel series.
Life imitating art.
“She’s still attractive, but has, uh, expanded a bit...”Women tend to do that you know.
Heavier (but not too heavy) beats rail-thin any old day, PD...
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