

Spacesuits of the future may resemble a streamlined second skin - user_235711
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/second-skin-spacesuits-0918

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ChuckMcM
Its an interesting note but it raises more questions than it answers. Sure
SMA's contract when they heat, the robotics community has played with it as
"muscle wire" for a long time (at least since the 90's), but in space its
really hot, and then its really cold, and then its really hot, Etc. The
difference in temperature between shade and sunlight is extreme. As the SMA
doesn't care _how_ its temperature changed, using it in such temperature
dynamic environments is really really really challenging.

The second issue is that getting into and out of skin tight space suits is
probably not #1 on the list. The issue is how do you bend your elbow? Even at
2 - 3 PSI, a 24" long sleeve (4" diameter cuff) has 650-975 pounds of force
holding it "straight". That means you need a mechanical elbow joint which is
both air tight and light which breaks the sleeve into two 'segments'.
Astronauts get exhausted just opening and closing their hands while on EVA.

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sallen
As mentioned in the article:

The group’s next challenge is finding a way to keep the suit tight. To do
this, Holschuh says there are only two options: either maintaining a constant,
toasty temperature, or incorporating a locking mechanism to keep the coils
from loosening. The first option would overheat an astronaut and require heavy
battery packs — a design that would significantly impede mobility, and is
likely infeasible given the limited power resources available to astronauts in
space. Holschuh and Newman are currently exploring the second option, looking
into potential mechanisms to lock or clip the coils in place.

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tdees40
I talked to a guy who toured SpaceX not too long ago, and he said that Elon
Musk had a staff of designers making spacesuits that were more comfortable and
stylish. He said that putting on a spacesuit should be as easy as putting on a
tuxedo.

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antimagic
Wait. With or without the bow tie?

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innguest
That reminds me, I really miss +1 Funny from Slashdot. :)

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jonhohle

        > Between 60 and 160 C, the coils contracted, pulling the 
        > attached threads, and tightening the cuff.
    

I have no background in material sciences, and I'm sure the researches thought
of this, but couldn't the model have been reversed to expand under exposure to
heat and have trained the contracted state? This way, electricity would only
be required to enter the suit, and the steady state would require no external
power or mechanism. This seems like it would be safer in a situation like
extreme low pressure where any failure would be fatal.

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saosebastiao
Its been more than a decade since I was an undergrad Materials Engineering
student (I didn't even graduate in in that field), but I think the answer
would be the same as for any coil. It is easy to elongate a compressed coil
through deformation, but it is much harder to compress an elongated coil
through deformation (while preserving the coil's properties...you can
definitely smash one into a ball quite easily, but it no longer acts like a
coil). With SMAs, there aren't two memories, there is a memory and a non-
memory state. The non-memory state is like any other wire, deforming with
physical force. In order for your proposal to work, you would have to take an
elongated memory coil, and then physically deform it into a compressed coil to
get the contracted state. That is a lot harder to do than to take an elongated
coil and return it to a compressed memory state.

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mrfusion
How would this work for areas of the body that don't like mechanical pressure?

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lmm
What difference does it make to the body whether the pressure is mechanical or
atmospheric?

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unchocked
To be coy, it matters quite a bit to the respiratory system. But of course
there's a face mask as part of the system. And that's what keeps the balloon
inflated, if you will.

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delinquentme
Plugsuit: "She would then plug in to a spacecraft’s power supply, triggering
the coils to contract and essentially shrink-wrap the garment around her
body."

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lmm
The surprisingly hard-sf _Rocket Girls_ used this idea. I recommend it to
those who enjoy near-future space fiction.

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randallsquared
Also, _Exo_ , the most recent in the Jumper series by Steven Gould.

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chiph
_Exo_ had surprisingly good research done by Gould.

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dsr_
Stephen Gould's new novel _Exo_ features these in a very near-future SFnal
setting.

(It's also book 3 of a series, but I can happily recommend the first two as
well.)

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3327
XCOM 3 had this figured out way back in the 90's gentlemen.

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kelvin0
Awesome use of 'She' everywhere. I kept picturing Space-Vixen-Amazon
astronauts ... distracting to my poor male brain.

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sanj
Perhaps that's because Dava Newman -- the PI on the work and a tenured prof in
Aero at MIT -- is a woman.

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kelvin0
Wow, are you a detective? Sharp eye ... Also, if anyone downvotes my previous
comment in the next 5 minutes, you could win a genuine shrink wrapped space
suit this article is about, Act now!

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skj
I want to go to space in a shrink-wrapped spacesuit.

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kelvin0
Yeah that is not a constructive comment, I should know! :-)

