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Slimming Down Future Spacesuits
Space.com ^ | 17 July 2007 | Tariq Malik

Posted on 07/17/2007 4:27:59 PM PDT by jmcenanly

Skintight spacesuits may give future astronauts a more flexible - not to mention stylish - way to explore the moon and Mars.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are edging closer to a spaceworthy astronaut garment that replaces the bulky traits of current, gas-pressurized versions with flexibility and mobility. Dubbed BioSuit, the spacesuit design relies on mechanical counter pressure rather than the stiff pressurized vessels employed by astronauts in space today.

"You can't do much bending of the arms or legs in that type of suit," said Dava Newman, an MIT professor of aeronautics and astronauts leading the research, of current spacesuits used in Earth orbit.

Newman and colleague Jeffrey Hoffman, a former NASA astronaut and spacewalker, have been working with students and the design firm Trotti and Associates for seven years to build a viable BioSuit

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: mars; moon; space
The final design of the suit is very similar to the suits worn by Olympic Skiers


1 posted on 07/17/2007 4:28:01 PM PDT by jmcenanly
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To: jmcenanly

That is certainly one technology that hasn’t advanced at all. I hope they figure something out. Can’t lug 500 pounds around with you everywhere, and it always pains me to see the spacewalkers having to use a wrench or whatever in those big, bulky gloves. Impossible here on earth, certainly impossible in zero gravity.


2 posted on 07/17/2007 4:30:29 PM PDT by Bladerunnuh
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To: jmcenanly

Aw heck yeah.

3 posted on 07/17/2007 4:37:21 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Bladerunnuh
it always pains me to see the spacewalkers having to use a wrench or whatever in those big, bulky gloves.

And for every small twist of a wrench, a gyro somewhere on board has to compensate to keep the vehicle from tumbling. (In theory, no?)

4 posted on 07/17/2007 4:39:21 PM PDT by SteveMcKing
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To: Bladerunnuh

You can bet this would make a better suit for Bio/Chem warfare and environmental control as well. What are those Bagdad high temps again; 130 degs. or so?


5 posted on 07/17/2007 4:39:22 PM PDT by Wiseghy ("You want to break this army? Then break your word to it.")
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To: jmcenanly

6 posted on 07/17/2007 4:52:22 PM PDT by skimbell (Conservatism Works)
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To: martin_fierro

Wanda Ventham aka Colonel Lake

7 posted on 07/17/2007 4:52:24 PM PDT by wally_bert
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To: jmcenanly

As a Doc Smith fan I would have to prefer about 100 tons of material between me and the vacuum.


8 posted on 07/17/2007 4:55:14 PM PDT by RightWhale (It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
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To: jmcenanly

Paging sbu commander TPol and 7 of 9. Report to the fitting room.


9 posted on 07/17/2007 4:55:45 PM PDT by saganite (Billions and billions and billions----and that's just the NASA budget!)
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To: martin_fierro
My first thought was that they've closed the gap between science and B movies.

But, mind you, that's only a theory.

10 posted on 07/17/2007 4:58:56 PM PDT by norton
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To: jmcenanly

?

11 posted on 07/17/2007 5:02:07 PM PDT by skimbell (Conservatism Works)
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To: saganite

ooooohhhhhh yyyeeeaaaaahhhhhh....


12 posted on 07/17/2007 8:08:10 PM PDT by castlebrew (true gun control is hitting where you're aiming!)
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To: jmcenanly
Here i s a movie on the subject

http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/space/second_skin/index.php

13 posted on 07/18/2007 6:55:39 PM PDT by jmcenanly
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