generation space suit,” says Madill – but a ‘one-suit-
suits-all’ solution is clearly ‘pie-in-the-sky’ thinking.
“Engineering involves trade-offs, and there are
some serious limitations to materials that make
the perfect suit impossible,” explains Southern.
“The extreme environment of space is essentially
impossible to safely protect a human against.”
He says an ideal suit might be very lightweight,
non-restrictive in mobility, highly reliable in terms
of life support, inexpensive, thin and not bulky
and have a very long life. But the best way forward,
he contends, is to have different suits for different
occasions, something Madill fully agrees with.
“The design of a spacesuit may seem simple
since they are covered with a fabric thermal
micrometeoroid garment, but it is in fact one of the
most complex technological developments to carry
out,” Madill concludes. “Suits of the future need to
use new ideas and some new materials to keep us
on our way to the Moon and, later, Mars – similar
to the new suits by SpaceX and Boeing that will be
worn by astronauts inside their capsules as they
launch to the International Space Station over the
coming year.”he 1960s and 1970s were
n incredible era for space
xploration; we haven’t actually
tepped foot on the Moon for a
ong 45 years” Vinita Marwaha Madill
PXS offers
reater
bility and
ion than
current
UsuitsBoeing’s new
Starliner
suit being
worn inside
a mockup
Starliner
spacecraft
“Th
an
ex
st
lo
TheP
fargr
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EMU© NASA; BoeingSpacesuit redesign