Researchers at MIT are developing lightweight, skintight suits to replace the bulky, over-sized suits worn by astronauts.
The "second-skin" BioSuit is being designed to give astronauts more freedom to move around and uses spring-like coils that are activated when heated, according to Design & Trend. The coils then pull the suit tight against the skin like shrink wrap.
"With conventional spacesuits, you're essentially in a balloon of gas that's providing you with the necessary one-third of an atmosphere [of pressure,] to keep you alive in the vacuum of space," said project leader Dava Newman, a professor of astronautics and aeronautics at MIT.
"We want to achieve that same pressurization, but through mechanical counter-pressure - applying the pressure directly to the skin, thus avoiding the gas pressure altogether," he added. "We combine passive elastics with active materials. Ultimately, the big advantage is mobility, and a very lightweight suit for planetary exploration."
The suit also relaxes when it is cooled, which will allow astronauts to easily take it off, Discovery News reported. Researchers still have to figure out how to keep the suit tight; the electrical current could overheat the suit, as well as the astronaut. As a result, the team is looking into a type of locking mechanism to prevent the coils from loosening.
Newman said the BioSuit has the potential to be useful for other people besides astronauts, such as athletes and soldiers.
"You could use this as a tourniquet system if someone is bleeding out on the battlefield," said Bradley Holschuh, a postdoc in Newman's lab. "If your suit happens to have sensors, it could tourniquet you in the event of injury without you even having to think about it."
The research was published in the journal IEEE/ASME: Transactions on Mechatronics.
