Vote on NASA's Z-2 Suit Design | Hacker News Reader

Vote on NASA's Z-2 Suit Design

jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov

71 pointslclemente37 comments

I can already hear all the complaints about having the public weigh in on this, and even on the waste of organizing it, but I think this is a pretty brilliant move on the part of Nasa.

There's far too little to 'inspire' kids anymore and I imagine far fewer kids saying they want to be astronauts. This does the double duty of involving the public even in a tiny way and of hopefully coming up with a design that moves people a bit as well.

Both good things in my book.

To inspire the kids all they need to do is give the suit the color scheme of buzz lightyear, a bit like the Z-1.

As much as I like this as a way to get kids interested, and I know that NASA couldn't offer massive fundamental design differences to an uneducated public (just not knowing what is safe), I was hoping for a little more than what pattern the LED lights appear on the suit. Designs 1 and 3 look like glow bracelets stitched into the suit, and the [as of this post] current winner is just modeled after Tron.

That said, I'd donate a month's paycheck if they remodeled it to use Buzz Lightyear's color scheme and design.

I'm super bummed the first image on the page is "Buzz Lightyear" themed, and then not an option for the actual vote. I want to live in a world where Buzz Lightyear looking spacemen are a real thing.

In case people comment without scrolling to the bottom and reading the FAQ:

"Is the design that is selected going to fly to space?

No, as the Z-series is still in the prototype or non-flight phase. The cover layer of a non-flight suit, which is used for ground-based testing, serves as abrasion/snag protection, a cover for technical details, and to a lesser extent, aesthetics. For a flight suit which is actually used for a spacewalk, the cover layer performs many other important functions such as micrometeorite, thermal and radiation protection. These requirements drive selection of specific high-performance materials and design details that would preclude us from using many of the features you see in these options for the Z-2 suit. "

I liked the way the old suits' exteriors looked so much better than any of these ideas. Even the Z-1 they show at the top of the page is so, so much better.

As often happens, an instance of designers mistaking their own taste for something that everyone will see as better.

To infinity and beyond?

http://wordlesstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/NASAs-Z-1...

you killed me on this one,cheers!

It bums me out this isn't an actual option for the vote, I thought the same thing as soon as I saw it and got very excited to place my vote, only to find it wasn't an actual option.

What about fast-tracking the skin tight futuristic one being worked on at MIT?

http://www.businessinsider.com/dava-newmans-skintight-spaces...

I am disappointed that they are all the same and they all look pretty bad.

I saw a pretty fly space suit at the top of the page. I saw some very disappointing things that looked like a 12 year old made them with duct tape. I got to choose between those disappointments. I then read that these won't even make it to space. I hereby conclude that this is a pretty bad PR move.

Why do they all look like the astronauts made the suits themselves out of duct tape?

Suits should be personalizable, and vivid for search-and-rescue situations. These grey camo styles are inappropriate. How do I vote 'none of the above'?

we're sending our best and brightest into space and making them wear shorts over their pants?

They'll be prepared in case a hockey game breaks out.

Space has extremely high contrast light conditions due to the lack of reflective materials in a vacuum, shadows have zero visible detail. To counter act that effect you'd want an all white suit to help diffuse as much reflected light as possible.

> No, as the Z-series is still in the prototype or non-flight phase. The cover layer of a non-flight suit, which is used for ground-based testing, serves as abrasion/snag protection, a cover for technical details, and to a lesser extent, aesthetics. For a flight suit which is actually used for a spacewalk, the cover layer performs many other important functions such as micrometeorite, thermal and radiation protection. These requirements drive selection of specific high-performance materials and design details that would preclude us from using many of the features you see in these options for the Z-2 suit.

Basically this is just them allowing people to have impact on what the next iteration looks like, not what the actual suit will look like.

If we're gunning for aesthetics, with a little dye and some extra lighting, that first one might be a decent Garrus approximation.

http://silentstephi.com/Misc/garrus14.png

I don't think they'll be doing that many calibrations in this suit.

Is anyone else missing the text from the page? Chrome 33.0.1750.154 m, no extensions.

http://i.imgur.com/a7lfdrY.png

Completely PR. Design can't even be used in space.

Reasoning please. (genuine interest)

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, they actually say that it's not a space design and give a couple details as to why.

You're just stating the obvious, I think the idea here is that it's great PR.

Didn't comment either way as to whether is was good/bad PR. Just letting everyone know that you're not voting on anything that will actually make it to space.

Not that it is consequential in either way, it's just even less consequential since you're voting on how the on earth trial suit will look, and it won't have any bearing on what the final suit looks like.

$4.4 million has been spent to manufacture and test it. Seems like it that's a stretch too far for PR from NASA.

Why couldn't it be used in space?

They themselves say so: "requirements drive selection of specific high-performance materials and design details that would preclude us from using many of the features you see in these options for the Z-2 suit"

That quote is referring to the outer layer of the suit only. This vote appears only to be voting on the outer protective layer of the suit while testing is being conducted on earth, and the outer layer will be replaced for actual space use.

Sigh: The process cannot access the file 'D:\JSCFeatures\z2\Default.aspx' because it is being used by another process.

Didn't see any cached copies, so here is this: http://i.imgur.com/6o5rBLV.jpg

Why do we need manned missions, is there something a drone can't do?

A drone can't be a human

React intelligently in real time five light-minutes from Earth.

Why are aliens wearing them?

aka, "hey this el wire stuff is pretty cool!"

Though, I thought EL Wire (at least, the stuff consumers can get their hands on) is sensitive to UV light and leaving it in the sunlight (in the Earth's atmosphere!) reduces its lifespan. Space would be the wrong place for that stuff, assuming that they haven't taken this into account.

EDIT:

Looks like the suit is for ground testing only, though this would still apply if they're using it in the sunlight.

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