Check Out the Skintight Spacesuit Developed by MIT Researchers
If researchers at MIT have their way, NASA will soon be the hipsters of outer space. According to these experts, the spacesuit of tomorrow should be skin tight and shrink wrapped around the astronauts. The result would be unlike anything NASA has used before, and that's the point. These suits are designed to be more efficient and quite simply — better — than the current suits.
MIT professor Dava Newman led the team that created the suit. According to Newman and her team, the main issue with the current spacesuit is it's — wait for it — bulky! Newman's new suit would fit like spandex, allowing the astronauts much better movement. As the saying goes, happy astronaut, uh, happy NASA.
"With conventional spacesuits, you’re essentially in a balloon of gas that’s providing you with the necessary one-third of an atmosphere [of pressure,] to keep you alive in the vacuum of space,” Newman told MIT News. “We want to achieve that same pressurization, but through mechanical counterpressure — applying the pressure directly to the skin, thus avoiding the gas pressure altogether. We combine passive elastics with active materials. Ultimately, the big advantage is mobility, and a very lightweight suit for planetary exploration."
The new suit is basically a collection of coils that — when heated to the proper temperature — constrict to the wearer's skin. "These are basically self-closing buckles," MIT's Bradley Holschuh, who designed the coil system, told Space.com. "Once you put the suit on, you can run a current through all these little features, and the suit will shrink-wrap you, and pull closed." Once the mission is completed, the astronaut simply cools the suit, and it uncoils. He or she can then safely take it off.
As you might be wondering, one problem with having to heat a spacesuit is not overheating the person inside. That's currently a sticking point for Newman and the suits. But they're determined to make their suit work, especially because of what it might mean for other applications.
"You could use this as a tourniquet system if someone is bleeding out on the battlefield,” Holschuh explained to Fox News. “If your suit happens to have sensors, it could tourniquet you in the event of injury without you even having to think about it. An integrated suit is exciting to think about to enhance human performance. We’re trying to keep our astronauts alive, safe, and mobile, but these designs are not just for use in space."
If the team does eventually solve the problem with the coils, it will indeed be a big step forward for human performance. Or even, one giant leap for mankind. Sorry, you knew we had to use that line somewhere.
[Image via screengrab - newsoffice.mit.edu]
