NASA unveils new spacesuit for next Moon landing | Hacker News Reader

NASA unveils new spacesuit for next Moon landing

bbc.com

15 pointsgaisturiz11 comments

> Mr Gohmert explained: "We can take safe haven in this suit, we'll seek refuge in here, we'll keep the body at 8 psi (pound force per square inch) for a certain period of time, then we'll drop down to 4.3 psi and we can remain there for six days."

> "That's no small feat to be able to live in a volume that's only a couple of inches bigger than your body for six whole days."

This means one can expect to expel solids and fluids while in this suit, and perhaps take in nutrients, if one is "stuck" in this suit due to emergencies?

Why don't they show the insides of the suit? How long does it take to put on? What technology is inside of it?

It's kind of pointless just to show the colors of the suit and someone bending down to pick up rock (albeit I realize this is an accomplishment from prior suits... but I cannot appreciate the work to make that happen).

The idea of not being able to scratch my nose for six days is horrifying.

I remember hearing a story about some fluid getting in the eye of an astronaut working on the exterior of the ISS, and them not being able to wipe it away due to the helmet, so just continuing while in pain / discomfort.

Perhaps spacesuits could do with some kind of manipulable swab within the helmet to deal with situations like this.

Chris Hadfield [0] seek to ~ 11m30

[0] https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from...

It’s worse one astronaut almost drowned when they had a leak in their cooling suit because the water in the “absent” of gravity just hangs out there.

https://www.space.com/24835-spacesuit-water-leak-nasa-invest...

There was also a case of the anti fogging material used in the glass getting into ones eyes leaving the astronaut essentially blind during a space walk.

I don’t think people realize just how dangerous those walks are, any equipment failure can pose as monumental risk and difficulty.

They usually stick rough Velcro patches around the inside of the helmet for this, some high altitude pilots do the same.

I had no idea. Thank you for enlightening me. Additionally, as user/gnode on this thread also pointed out, something could get in your eye. I'd hate to get an eyelash in my eye and not be able to get to it. Maybe I'm just super picky about being able to touch my face.

Or you can get anti fogging agent in your eye and go blind. https://youtu.be/Zo62S0ulqhA

> The suit has a 100% oxygen environment

That can't be right, can it?

[edit] Ok - I guess under low pressure it's not toxic. But if the pressure is adjusted so that 100% has the effect of 21% O2 on the system, wouldn't the volume of gas be much less, making it a larger effort to breath?

On an related personal anecdote -- if you ever want to feel what's it's like to open your mouth in a vacuum and get a taste of what it would be like to do so in space (save the lack of any heat) you can always do what I did by accident as a kid: Swim in a pool that has a flexible plastic (in this case, a thin-bubble wrap sort of material) sheet floating over half of the pool, swim under part of the covered area, and then stand up out of the water. The sheet will lift up, but there will be no air whatsoever. Open your mouth, and find all of the air in your lungs immediately sucked out with no way to take a breath -- pretty horrifying if you're not expecting it...

this looks even more ridiculous than the 60s version

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