Scientists Create Sleek Spacesuits Just Like in the Movies

Science-fiction movies (just don't call them that) almost always outfit space travelers and planet trekkers with sleek spacesuits, not the 200 lb to 300 lb monstrosities that NASA astronauts have to wear today. Yet, aeronautical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology may yet be able to deliver on a movie-like spacesuit.

Researchers led by Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, announced on Monday that they had designed a suit, dubbed the BioSuit, that does not use air pressure to mimic the weight of the Earth's atmosphere. Rather, the suit uses mechanical pressure from elastic fabrics and a support web of rigid material to protect the wearer from the absence of pressure.

(At right, Newman models a prototype of the suit on Henry Moore's sculpture "Reclining Figure" on the MIT campus.)

Newman, her colleague Jeff Hoffman, her students and a local design firm, Trotti and Associates, have been working on the project for about seven years. Their prototypes are not yet ready for space travel, but demonstrate what they're trying to achieve--a lightweight, skintight suit that will allow astronauts to become truly mobile lunar and Mars explorers.

Astronauts need about a third of an atmosphere, about 30 kPa (kilo-Pascals), to survive. The current suit provides about 20 kPa. Newman and her colleagues believe that a hybrid suit might have to suffice -- one that uses the new materials for an astronauts arms and legs, but protects the head and torso with traditional materials.

Newman anticipates that the BioSuit could be ready by the time humans are ready to launch an expedition to Mars, possibly in about 10 years.
Current spacesuits could not handle the challenges of such an exploratory mission, Newman says.