[FPSPACE] Space Activity Suit - Bio Suit

[Mark Wade]

The trouble with the Biosuit, as well as the earlier Space Activity
Suit, and other Mechanical Counter Pressure devices, is the difficulty
in keeping equal pressure over the whole body, especially in the groin
area. This led to swelling/edema. Furthermore, the suit would have to
be tailored for each individual body countour - and retailored if the
person's body form changed (during long missions to Mars, for
example).

The BioSuit hypothesized that this could be countered by blue-sky
technologies like spray-on and dispose outer coatings. But this is a
kind of academic study of potential technology, a long way from
practical solution.

That said, there really has to be a need for a lighter-weight suit for
any eventual Mars missions or even a return to the moon (the current
suits have been added and added to, and are now much heavier than the
Apollo suits). On the other hand, the way things are going, such
missions will never occur, and robots are much better suited to the
task...


See

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spaysuit.htm

and

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/biosuit.htm
-- 
Mark Wade
Encyclopedia Astronautica
http://www.astronautix.com/
astronautix at gmail.com