NASA’s new suits are designed with future Mars missions in mind. They must fit astronauts in a range of body shapes. They must be lightweight and durable. They must also reduce the chance of micrometeoroids piercing the outer layer.
Ridley Scott’s 2001 film depicted spacesuits that were sleek and futuristic. Costume designers based their designs on real spacesuit technology.
Skin-tight
For humans to venture beyond low-Earth orbit, they will need more than a spaceship and a multimillion-dollar spacesuit. They will need an improved suit that can survive hostile alien environments, asteroid belts and Martian moons. The current Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) suits are stiff, cumbersome and packed with aging technologies. They provide protection but require astronauts to use too much energy for the simplest of maneuvers.
Engineers hope a futuristic spacesuit will be sleeker and far more maneuverable. They might use a material that produces power, like glass fibers coated with thermoelectric nanocrystals. Conductive nanowires woven into the fabric could harvest energy from an astronaut’s movements, while a translucent fiber-optic heads-up display on the helmet would superimpose local maps and preset routes on the suit’s visor. The suit’s sensors might also be linked to epidermal biosensors that detect metabolites and other indicators of health problems.
But even a flexible skintight material would have its limits. A rigid suit blown up like a balloon is difficult to move in, and one wrong squeeze from mechanical counterpressure can injure vital organs. A better solution might be to use shape-memory alloys, such as a weave of nickel-titanium wire from Boston-based Mide Technology, that apply steady mechanical counterpressure and conform to an astronaut’s movement.
The idea of a skintight spacesuit is nothing new to science fiction, which has long used the concept as an aesthetic and functional inspiration. It appears in the original Buck Rogers comics, as well as the sci-fi pulp magazines of the 1920s. It is also the preferred type of spacesuit for short EVAs in Stephen Baxter’s Manifold Trilogy, Larry Niven’s Known Space and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy.
Lightweight
A futuristic space suit needs to provide its wearer with several essential functions. These include maintaining an atmospheric pressure inside the suit, keeping the astronaut warm and comfortable, and protecting against radiation. In addition, it must be able to adapt to different environments and temperatures. Despite these demands, the ideal spacesuit is lightweight enough to allow its wearer freedom of movement and agility.
Achieving these goals is not easy. Engineers have to keep developing new materials for the spacesuit, and each advancement adds to the complexity of a system that is already mind-bogglingly intricate. This is why scientists are constantly searching for ways to reduce the mass of a spacesuit without sacrificing its performance.
For example, one research team has developed a material that can retain its shape when heated to certain temperatures. This technology could help the MIT team develop a spacesuit that looks and feels more like Burhnam’s. However, this is only a small step towards developing a realistic spacesuit. It will likely be decades before we put warp drives in starships and begin to explore the solar system on a grand scale.
Nevertheless, the spacesuit is an important part of any science fiction story. The classic image of a NASA astronaut in his EVA gear still inspires us, and the sci-fi world is filled with depictions of space suits. These include the iconic domed helmet with a transparent face covering and various tubes running to a heavy pack. Some sci-fi writers have even gone as far as to invent their own types of spacesuits.
For instance, Elecia White’s novel Pony Up features a next-generation NASA “skinsuit” worn by its protagonist during a space walk. The 2014 film Interstellar also features a similar spacesuit worn by the crew of the Hermes and Ares spacecrafts.
Flexible
When you think of a spacesuit, you might picture the stiff suits used by astronauts on Apollo 11. But the next generation of these suits may be flexible enough to enable humans to walk, bend and move freely in space.
This technology is in the works, and it will likely be used by future astronauts on NASA missions. A flexible suit could also allow for more movement and make it easier to maneuver in a spaceship or on the surface of Mars.
The idea behind the flexible suit comes from a paper by scientists at MIT and Boston University. They have developed a material that is both stretchable and durable, and they are working to integrate it into a functional spacesuit. The team’s goal is to develop a suit that can protect astronauts from the cold, radiation and other hazards of deep space while providing them with maximum flexibility.
This new material is made of a gel-like substance that can be molded to the shape of an astronaut’s body. It also has built-in cooling capabilities to prevent overheating. The material also provides thermal protection from the sun’s rays and tiny micrometeroid particles that whizz by at thousands of miles per hour. The team’s work will be critical for NASA’s plans to send a manned mission around the Moon and eventually establish a human presence on Mars in 2050.
FFD has already teamed up with Boeing and other companies on scientific contracts to design spacesuits for NASA’s lunar missions and beyond. These suits will be used by astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, a new capsule that will ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The company hopes to launch the first manned missions in 2020.
Durable
A real spacesuit will have to be able to endure all sorts of environments, from the pocked surface of an asteroid to the dust storm on Mars. It will also need to be able to support astronauts for years on end, so designers will have to use an arsenal of new materials, each imparting a different capability. For example, a suit headed to an asteroid could have boot soles that leverage the dry adhesion of gecko skin, allowing astronauts to climb on the surface with ease. Another material that might be useful is a luminous fabric that can alert astronauts to any damage to the suit, so they can avoid danger quickly.
The futuristic spacesuit is likely to be a lot sleeker and smarter than the suits we see in movies and TV shows. In fact, some of the key elements are already being tested in labs around the world. For instance, a Boston-based company, Mide Technology, is working on a weave of shape-memory alloy wire that can apply steady mechanical counterpressure. This would make the spacesuit more form-fitting, requiring less energy to move, and making it easier for astronauts to maneuver.
Other new materials being tested in labs include flexible solar arrays that can power the suit’s electronics and keep it warm without generating too much heat. A fabric called aramid also has the potential to detect wear and tear in the spacesuit, sending an electrical signal to the astronaut’s helmet that alerts them to any damage. It could even give the astronaut a list of possible problems and their severity so they can decide how to proceed.
Adaptable
A futuristic space suit can be worn in outer space for extended periods and handles waste management and hygiene for the astronaut. It also provides power and communications. The current version of a spacesuit is a complex system, but the new design will be more flexible and lighter. It will be able to fit more astronauts, and it will have better ventilation. This will allow astronauts to move around the surface of a planet and drive rovers more easily.
SpaceX’s prototype spacesuit, which will fly astronauts on its upcoming Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station, is one of many technologies being developed for future human spaceflight. The company recently tested the suit for the first time with a dummy aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket, and it will soon test the suits on a manned flight of the Crew Dragon.
The new spacesuit will include an active compression system with small, springlike coils that contract in response to heat. These coils are made from a shape-memory alloy, which can remember an engineered shape and spring back to it when heated. It will enable astronauts to move more freely in space and reduce their reliance on power-hungry batteries, which aren’t reliable enough for long flights.
These coils will help astronauts adapt to different temperatures, and they can be cooled or heated by using an external machine. They will be a lot easier to maneuver than the clunky suits used by astronauts on past missions, and they’ll look more like Michael Burnham’s sleek helmet from Star Trek: Discovery.
A team of scientists at Colorado Mines is developing sensors for these suits. They will be able to detect strain on the suit and send a signal to an external control unit. This could be useful for future astronauts, who might need to move more quickly to avoid collisions with asteroids or other obstacles. The team includes professors from Mines and the University of South Dakota as well as graduate student Ahsan Aqueeb.