Second Skin Spacesuits For Astronauts Courtesy MIT

Close For Comfort: Second Skin Spacesuits For Astronauts Courtesy MIT

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have just accomplished a lot towards developing active second skin spacesuits for future astronauts. These spacesuits have small coils which work like springs to contract in response to rising temperatures or heat. Astronauts get the desired mobility in the space environment through these spacesuits.

These astronauts are perfect for handling the challenges of the space environment. The coils in this spacesuit are made from SMA or shape memory alloy which is a material that recalls the specific engineered shape even when it is bent and distorted and it can easily bounce back to this original shape when heated.

"With conventional spacesuits, you are essentially in a balloon of gas that is providing you with the necessary one-third of an atmosphere (of pressure,) to keep you alive in the vacuum of space," Dava Newman, Professor of aeronautics, astronautics and engineering systems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been quoted by the media as saying. These second skin spacesuits have now become a reality though they were earlier only a theoretical possibility.

Earlier, such skin tight spacesuits could not be developed because scientists were still uncertain about how the astronauts could come in and out of the pressurised suit engineered to be body hugging. Shape memory alloys are the solution, according to MIT researchers who are now on the path to developing this out of the world skintight suits.

The reaspn why this shape memory alloy could be the solution is that such mmaterials only contract when they are heated. They can be conveniently stretched back to a more looser shape when they are cooled off. "These are basically self-closing buckles," according to Bradley Holschuh, a researcher from Newman's lab, who came up with the revolutionary coil design. This research group is devoted to designing special clothes for those in difficult environments such as military men and athletic persons. Challenging environment such as space are another area of interest for the group.

"We are trying to keep our astronauts alive, safe and mobile but these designs are not just for use in space," Newman is said to have concluded, according to reports in the media. Bulky spacesuits can only cause the problems in space to intensisy. Lightwegith, skin tight spacesuits could make space travel and exploration way more easier.

Neil Armstrong took the massive step for mankind but it does not get bigger than these skin tight spacesuits when it comes to optimal space exploration capabilities. MIT is world famous for its amazing inventions and world class research. Now it sets out to conquer outer space.