NASA has revealed the winner of their Spacesuit Design contest - the Z-2 design, also known as "Technology," which garnered a total of 233,431 votes.
Last month, NASA offered up three spacesuit prototypes on its website and asked the public to vote on which design would best serve the space agency. The three designs, namely Biomimicry, Technology, and Trends in Society were designed by students from Philadelphia University and suit manufacturer ILC Dover. The poll closed April 15.
The newest spacesuit is expected to be tested in November 2014. The Z-2 is the latest addition to the space agency's next generation suit collection, the Z-series. A team of developers worked on the suit with Mars in mind, using principles and concepts that will help astronauts better adapt to the habitat of the Red Planet in a slew of upcoming projects.
The Z-2 suit sports a lot of new features, including a harder and more composite upper torso. This improved upper torso will enable the wearer to benefit from necessary durability, especially in Extravehicular Activity (EVA) missions. The shoulder and the hip joints were also improved to allow greater flexibility. The materials used to create the Z-2 can survive better in a vacuum environment.
Before finalizing the suit, it will undergo several safety and durability tests. NASA engineers will try out the suit in vacuum chambers that mimic the conditions in outer space. It will also be tested at the Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Lab, the same indoor pool which is being used to teach astronauts how to do the spacewalk properly. Other tests will imitate more extreme Martian conditions, which will help the engineers assess the suit in terms of mobility, durability, performance and comfort.
The Z-2, according to the press release, will also be made with different layer design elements which include an electroluminescent wiring. The new designs were incorporated to improve mobility as well as help the suit to perform better in safety and durability tests.
