In the 40 years that humans have been traveling into space, the suits they wear have changed very little. The bulky, gas-pressurized outfits give astronauts a bubble of protection, but their significant mass and the pressure itself severely limit mobility.
Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, wants to change that.
Newman is working on a sleek, advanced suit designed to allow superior mobility when humans eventually reach Mars or return to the moon. Her spandex and nylon BioSuit is not your grandfather's spacesuit--think more Spiderman, less John Glenn.
Photo / Donna Coveney
She probably should add a "butt pad" to the suit, similar to the suit's knee pads--so the wearer can sit on rough surfaces without fraying the material, etc.
ReplyDeletepossibly. However in zero g the elbow pads make sense, considering that most locomotion is handled by the arms. I never could understand boot tread on suits that were on the space station. they are for what?
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