NASA starts competition for better space suit glove

Six teams are getting ready to compete in the first ever Astronaut Glove Challenge, one of NASA's Centennial Challenges. The goal of the $250,000 competition, which will be held on 2 and 3 May, is to spur innovation to design more flexible spacesuit gloves. Gloves are possibly the most important part of the spacesuit from an astronaut's perspective. In addition to cranking levers and handling power drills, astronauts use their hands – rather than their feet – as their primary mode of "walking" around the International Space Station. Current gloves use two inner layers – a rubbery balloon-like layer surrounded by cloth to help keep the glove's shape – and an outer shield that protects against micrometeoroids and orbital debris and insulates the hands against the extreme temperatures of space. The gloves are pressurised, making it difficult for the astronauts to move their fingers. The labour-intensive spacewalks often leave astronauts' hands bruised and pinched and their fingernails bent backwards. So NASA has gone outside the usual big aerospace companies. Up for grabs is $250,000 in prize money. Each competitor's glove will be graded on how it withstands pressure, how flexible it is and most of all, how comfortable the glove is while doing work. The team with the glove that scores highest in the three tests and also beats the existing spacesuit glove will take home the $200,000 prize.

submitted by Shaun A. Saunders