One of the coolest things at the AMNH’s Beyond Planet Earth exhibition is the next-generation spacesuit, made of a stretchy fabric made of spandex, nylon and a new substance that will eliminate baggy suits forever. Skinny is in in space.
It’s called the BioSuit. It would be able replace the current baggy spacesuits because of a new patented polymer that replaces compressed air. This doesn’t only make them lighter than its current counterparts, but much more manoeuvrable. More importantly, they are able to maintain overall pressure if they are torn. Only one area would be exposed to depressurisation, which is not dangerous to the astronaut’s life.
Each of them would be custom-fitted using a full body laser scanner, according to its creator, MIT aeronautics and astronautics professorDava Newman. At last, astronauts will look like astronauts were supposed to look to begin with: like sleek heroes rather than heroes in a microwave oven bag.
You can visit Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. If you live outside of New York, don’t worry, there’s plenty of time to come: the exhibit spans from November 19 to August 12, 2012.
Ash
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 9:09 AMSuch a misleading title as there’s no comparison to justify that theyre anywhere like or better than Marty McFly’s shoes. No video demo. Boooooo! :-(
Thorbjørn
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 10:01 AMI’m not impressed until I see self-tying shoelaces
James Mac
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 10:08 AMDecompression isn’t dangerous to astronauts?
Sylver
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 12:46 PMApparently not. I read a wikipedia article about an astronaught that was exposed to a near vacuum when his suit failed. The saliva on his tounge boiled at room temperature, and when he closed his mouth, it stopped.
I’d say it’s still dangerous, but not immediately fatal. You don’t explode.
Osiris Fox
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 3:48 PMI’d would like to add to this that boil in space is not the same as boil on earth. In other words, you might be able to put your hand in a pot of boiling water in a vacuum and not get burnt because the temperature required for water to boil is much lower. On top of Mt Everest, water boils at 69 °C. (156.2 °F). Think of it rather as enthusiastic evaporation.
From Wiki:
“A liquid in a vacuum environment has a lower boiling point than when the liquid is at atmospheric pressure.”
Osiris Fox
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 3:49 PMYou know what, I only saw that you said room temperature now!
W
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 11:31 AMDecompression wouldn’t be fatal if it was your hand or foot or a patch on a limb.
It would probably leave a hell of a hickey and maybe frostbite. But you could get back in the ship in a few minutes anyway.
If your helmet decompressed i’d say it definitely is fatal.
Osiris Fox
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 3:52 PMPlus, I’m sure they’ll have contingencies in place like special tape to warp around the tear on the limb and so on.
Paz
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 4:14 PMThose boots look like my motorbike boots. The Dainese torque pro IN boots