New NASA Spacesuit Looks Like Buzz Lightyear's 81
A reader sends this excerpt from Space.com:
It might make the astronaut wearing it look like a real-life Buzz Lightyear, but a new prototype spacesuit that NASA just finished testing represents the first major overhaul in spacesuit technology since 1998. Flexible, white, and lime green accented, the suit — known as the Z-1 — is designed not only to help astronauts comfortably maneuver during spacewalks in microgravity, but also to deftly move about when walking on the surface of a planet or other smaller heavenly body, like an asteroid. [Engineer Amy Ross] said, 'the shuttle EMU splits at the waist and you put pants on and you put the top on separately and they connect in the middle. Whereas with this suit, the subject crawls in through the back, and then we just shut the door.' Creating a back-entry suit solves a few of the problems spacewalkers often face during trips to the International Space Station. Using airlocks to depressurize is a time consuming, exhausting process. By using a back-entry design, the astronauts won't need to go through an airlock at all. The suit hooks up to the outside of the spacecraft using the "space port" opening, and the spacewalker simply climbs in and detaches."
Seriously? Not news (Score:4, Informative)
Not new news anyway. This is like 6 months old.
...and a dupe (Score:5, Informative)
Re:...and a dupe (Score:4, Funny)
Re:...and a dupe (Score:5, Funny)
56k modems in the US are/were limited by FCC regs to about 53k [lowendmac.com].
From this url [2fords.net]:
The chilling news came just days before U.S. Robotics shipped its x2 modems: the FCC won't let modems transfer data at a rate faster than 53 kbps. The legal snafu has to do with a long-standing FCC regulation known as Part 68, which was never intended to affect modems. The problem is that if you send too much power through the phone line, your conversation can get loud enough to creep into neighboring lines. This is called crosstalk, and Part 68 was meant to prevent it. But to reach 56 kbps, the new modems must send more power down the line.
I win, right?
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"(Score:5, Redundant)"
Why yes, I think you do win.
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Older than that, anyone following the Surface Exploration Vehicle saw it over two years ago.
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"One of the big differences is the rear-entry design"
I always liked suits that allow for convenient rear entry.
Andromeda Suit (Score:2)
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Well thanks asshole. I can't even begin to express how comforting it was to not know there had been a remake. Why did you have to ruin my blissful ignorance?
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Well thanks asshole. I can't even begin to express how comforting it was to not know there had been a remake. Why did you have to ruin my blissful ignorance?
Heh, damn I'm in the same boat. Well misery loves company, so: They made two Matrix movie sequels, and three Star Wars prequels (and Disney plans to make a bunch more). Lost in Space was remade too, oh, so was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Hmm, Oh! Battlestar Galactica rebooted, wasn't so bad except the latter half (oh, and who the hell was that BG prequel spinoff "Caprica" even for?). Not even Flash Gorden is sacred, (don't) see: 1980's remake. I'm sure you know about the Star Trek universe b
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No. I don't believe you. Its all lies.... and firefly wont be remade...it will... well... a second season is still possible right?
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mud room (Score:5, Insightful)
"The suit hooks up to the outside of the spacecraft using the "space port" open"
what always worried me about this is leaving the suits out exposed and then needing to trust them.
I hope they atleast use some form of a mud room. unpressurized, but not constantly exposed to radiation and micro metorites.
just my .2061 USD
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If the suits are hooked up to the spacecraft as specified, it would be rather easy to test the integrity of the suits by inflating them to a specific pressure and waiting to see if the pressure drops. In fact, one could leave them inflated and if the pressure drops the access door won't open.
Re:mud room (Score:5, Informative)
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or they would be in the airlock itself and not actually exposed to space all the time -
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The point of having a dockable suit is that you can avoid the airlock. Airlocks do lose breathing air with every cycle.
Whatever, have a door but don't move the air around and for gods sake, just don't call it an airlock!
Just close the outer door and let the space between the suit and the door remain unpressurized. See, no longer exposed to radiation and micro meteorites.
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Perhaps they can be left in an unpressurized airlock (which current spacecraft will still have, and perhaps future spacecraft as a backup system).
This of course assumes the inner door of the airlock is compatible with this suit's door.
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The real idea for this suit is so astronauts are not tracking in harmful dust (lunar dust is harmful to the lungs and equipment) and maybe the time to compress/decompress in an airlock.
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Wouldn't you just use a vacuum pump to pump out most of the air in the airlock back into the ship before exposing it to the atmosphere/vacuum of another planet?
Most, yes, but not all. You still lose a little air every cycle, which needs to be replaced.
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The last article on this kind of space suit said that was the plan.
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Re:mud room (Score:4, Funny)
Gee, I hope NASA thought of that! Maybe you should call them, just in case...
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If the tether is attached to this ring, then couldn't it just reel them in?
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The mud room will be mass that you just can't afford to boost. Besides, it's not like the suit will be out there forever. We're talking a short duration mission like an asteroid rendezvous or moon landings. What, a couple of days?
To infinity...... (Score:5, Funny)
Picture is wrong. (Score:3)
1. Missing the backpack, which will add a lot of mass and volume and alter balance.
2. It isn't inflated. Spacesuits have a significent pressure inside, which makes moving in them something like trying to shape a balloon animal, or Stay Puft climbing a skyscraper. Even at low-pressure, enriched-oxygen any non-rigid suit is going to inflate.
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The backpack as stated in the article is still in development and not yet merged with this project. Not that I expect you to read the article.
"Although the Z-1 and the PLSS 2.0 aren't ready to be joined into one prototype yet, eventually they could combine to create an even more efficient space-traversing suit."
As for inflation, the 2nd picture is inflated. Can't you even scroll?
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I noticed your sig and I have a theory.
Your posts are crap and you're getting modded down correctly. Judging by the quality of the post I'm replying to, I'd say I'm right.
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I have a mod stalker who is modding down my past comments and is too much of a cowardly pussy to admit it or face me.
You should test this theory by making another account.
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Seeing as simply stating "no, that space suit doesn't look like Buzz Lightyear" gets modded as flaimbait, I would say I have decent proof. But, as it happens I did just that and found that posting similar or even the same comment got different moderations.
Great... (Score:4, Insightful)
Now if only they had a man-rated spacecraft to put these "space ports" in. Somehow I don't think this is going to be retro-fittable to Soyuz.
Re:Great... (Score:4, Informative)
Dragon, it has not yet received NASA blessing for manned flight but that's mostly checkboxes. In fact due to the nature of the Falcon 9's Merlin engine it's probably safer than anything NASA has previously man rated. Remember that the Shuttle with a 1% mission failure profile was man rated.
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These aren't intended for launch/reentry, hence they won't be used in manned capsules. They'll still use the standard recovery suits for that. [This applies to the comments about Dragon, above. It's likely that SpaceX would use a fairly conventional International Orange ACES-style recovery suit [wikipedia.org]. As will all the other Commercial Crew developers.]
These new suits are intended for long duration space vessels, such as the SEV or potentially the ISS if you launch a suitable adapter module for the external "dockin
Back entry jokes... (Score:1)
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A lot of us women actually enjoy back-entry, thank you very much.
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It's the repetitive stimulation of the prostate gland that gives pleasure to the receiver. It's likely that women who enjoy anal sex have some kind of vestigial nerve cluster in the same area. "Squirters", I believe, have such a pseudo-prostate.
The rest is psychological, obviously.
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The biggest problem with a space suit is not how to get into it.
In fact, the main problem is having a ship to put around it...
Saw it at the movies (Score:2)
Wasn't there a movie in which space suits were exactly like this? I can't remember which.
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Perhaps you saw it in a documentary. That's the way the Orlan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlan_space_suit) russian space suits work (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OrlanDonning.jpg)
space.com humor... (Score:2)
"Using airlocks to depressurize is a time consuming, exhausting process."
oh I get it (Score:2)
These guys tend to thing about everything... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:These guys tend to thing about everything... (Score:5, Funny)
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They're race stripes and obviously make the suit move faster.
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Any word on the purpose of the lime green accents?
well, that's the color at about peak sensitivity of human vision. Maybe it helps people see the astronaut that's starting to float away.
Or because Buzz Lightyear's costume had it, if you want to go with TFH.
Exploring planets? (Score:2)
The Z-1 spacesuit will potentially be used to explore different planets.
The last suit redesign was just in '98. I don't know of any upcoming plans for planet exploration. By that time there will be many more iterations of design/improvements/new materials. This is not even potentially first mission until '15 at the earliest.
/not the Christmas present I wanted NASA and what about this big announcement you were to make a couple weeks ago?
GI Joe (Score:1)
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Hollywood (Score:4, Funny)
If they're going with Hollywood inspiration, the helmets need to have lights that shine directly into the face of the wearer. You know it makes sense.
But does it have wings? (Score:2)
Main difference... (Score:5, Funny)
When you pull the string, instead of saying "To Infinity and Beyond", it says "To the moon and that's enough for another 40 years or more"
Obligatory Oatmeal!!!!? (Score:1)
All dressed up... (Score:2)
I want a big spacesuit (Score:3)
the upper torso area should be bigger than this, and the tube from shoulders down to the elbows should be of a larger diameter.
That way, you will be able to pull your arms into the torso area and use your hand to access the inside of the suit.
What's the advantage? You can scratch your face or your back. This is very important! Going for long periods without the ability to scratch an itch is very demoralizing psychologically. Plus by having access to your face, you can wipe away tears, blow your nose, and do many other things.
Another plus is in the event of a puncture. With current spacesuits, you're pretty much toast. With the big suit, you can put a finger on the puncture from the inside. This will allow you to hold pressure almost indefinitely.
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Rear entry (Score:1)
...as recommended by our consultants on this project Goatse Enterprises.
stretching the meme... (Score:2)
I for one welcome our back entry... aww never mind.
Another soft suit (Score:2)
Where are the hardsuits? The seals are still too hard to make work reliably?