Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
BioSuit Space Suit Vs. Tentacle Monsters
The BioSuit is a radical (and fashionable) redesign of the traditional bulky, Michelin Man-style spacesuit could revolutionize long-term space travel. When I saw this story making the rounds this week, I thought to myself "I'm sure I've seen this before." Sure enough, I checked my NextFest 2006 photo gallery - and there it was.
(Dava Newman with Biosuit at NextFest 2006)
Dava Newman, along with colleague Jeff Hoffman, students and design firm Trotti and Associates, have been at this project for seven years. The prototypes are not yet ready for space travel, but their intent is to be ready for Mars missions in the next ten years.
Why a new space suit design?
Traditional bulky spacesuits "do not afford the mobility and locomotion capability that astronauts need for partial gravity exploration missions. We really must design for greater mobility and enhanced human and robotic capability," Newman says.
Rather than being inflated, the suit relies on mechanical counter-pressure, which involves wrapping layers of material tightly around the body. Skintight but stretches with the body for freedom of movement - that's the trick.
Astronauts are not complainers, but if they were, they'd tell you how exhausting it is to work in a space suit. About 80 percent of the energy they exert is against the suit - to bend it.
The BioSuit will be better at dealing with punctures - wrap them with a bandage. BioSuits could also be engineered to vary in their resistance to astronaut movement, allowing them to exercise while in space.
(Space suits work better, but are less fashionable)
Space suits are highly recommended when fighting it out with tentacled space monsters. In his 1947 story The Disc-Men of Jupiter, Manly Wade Wellman provides a very early use of the word "space-suit:"
In the first place the pressure is considerable and the density is greater than that of the most thoroughly water-saturated air. Then there is a whole chemistry shop full of other elements in with the oxygen and hydrogen, even including some metallic vapors. You'd need a space suit to make any kind of a successful trip outdoors.
Pride of place in first use of "space-suit" goes to John W. Campbell for his 1932 story The Electronic Siege. Update: I found an earlier reference; see the entry for space suit from Schachner and Zagat's 1931 story The Emperor of the Stars. End update.
Update: See also this description (and picture!) of space suit testing from The Shot Into Infinity (1929) by Otto Willi Gail. End update.
Read more about the biosuit at MIT. Also, take a look at the dozen or so NextFext 2006 devices, stories and pictures - since they're obviously still news! Also, Winchell Chung has a terrific collection of space suit pictures at Project Rho.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/17/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.' - Isaac Asimov, 1939.
Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...' - Clifford Simak,
Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris
Preventing annoying space debris build-up.
Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
You Will Eat The Cookies Made From Plastic...
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
Birds Learn To Sing Pictures ala Frank Herbert's Distrans
'We will fight in the time of fighting.'
ElectionSim: China's 'Ender's Game' Battle Sim, Or Lem's 'Kingdom In A Box'?
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
