One giant leap for space fashion -- MIT designs sleek, skintight spacesuit

User rating: 4.1 / 5 after 76 vote(s)

Dava Newman models her Biosuit--a sleek spacesuit that relies on mechanical counter-pressure instead of using gas pressurization--on Henry Moores sculpture Reclining Figure on the MIT campus. Photo: Donna Coveney
Dava Newman models her Biosuit--a sleek spacesuit that relies on mechanical counter-pressure instead of using gas pressurization--on Henry Moore's sculpture "Reclining Figure" on the MIT campus. Photo: Donna Coveney

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.


Full story »
All News summaries from Space & Earth science news
All News summaries for July 16, 2007

Trench on Mars Ready for Next Sampling by NASA Lander

9 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has groomed the bottom of a shallow trench to prepare for collecting a sample to be analyzed from a hard subsurface layer where the soil may contain frozen water. ...

Arctic 'holds 90bln barrels of oil, mostly offshore'

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore, the government-run US Geological Survey said.

Russian scientists begin trial exploration of world's deepest lake

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Russian scientists leading a submarine expedition to probe the world's deepest lake on Thursday carried out test dives ahead of the start of the operation next week, reports said.

Scientists solve 30-year-old aurora borealis mystery

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
UCLA space scientists and colleagues have identified the mechanism that triggers substorms in space; wreaks havoc on satellites, power grids and communications systems; and leads to the explosive release of ...

The Quiet Explosion: Object intermediate between normal supernovae and gamma-ray bursts found

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
A European-led team of astronomers are providing hints that a recent supernova may not be as normal as initially thought. Instead, the star that exploded is now understood to have collapsed into a black hole, producing a ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive