Editorial: spacesuits for commercial travellers

Citation

Stylios, G. (2015), "Editorial: spacesuits for commercial travellers", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 27 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-02-2015-0024

Editorial: spacesuits for commercial travellers

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Volume 27, Issue 2.

We are at the crossroads of commercial space travel realization, which is aimed at bringing space travel to ordinary individuals. Companies such as:

• SpaceX;

• ProTura;

• Virgin Galactic;

• SpaceDev/Sierra Nevada Corp;

• Bigelow Aerospace;

• Blue Origin;

• Orbital Sciences; and

• Space Frontier Foundation

are working eagerly to achieve this realization soon. But although many billions have been spend to design the space suits for astronauts in space missions to fit the requirements of space exploration, the spacesuits for commercial travel need not to be so complicated. For a start there are differences in requirements of a suit worn inside the spacecraft and a suit worn for spacewalking; called intra vehicular activity (IVA), and extra vehicular activity (EVA), respectively. The former has to provide a stable air-pressure environment for the space-traveller, but it does not need to withstand the temperature fluctuations that the latter must ensure, so IVA suits need to only be able to provide pressurization during emergencies, without trivializing one can see them as the oxygen masks falling from the panel above in airplanes.

So although the requirements of these commercial space suits are not as demanding as the spacesuits for astronauts in missions, they have to be as effective in the eventuality of loss of pressure. If a spacecraft looses pressure above 20 km a mask cannot help at all, humans will loose consciousness in 15-20 seconds, the extreme temperature will freeze eyeballs open and the drop in pressure will pull all the gas out of the lungs and pierce the drums of ears.

If we ere to give a quick outline of the composition of a current spacesuit we can count 14 layers or so. The fists three fabrics are for cooling and ventilation. On top of these layers is a bladder type of layer to regulate the appropriate body pressure and to provide the oxygen for breathing. The next fabric layer that is made of tent-like material is responsible for holding the bladder layer in shape around the body of the wearer. Next is a tear-resistant liner and the next seven made of Mylar insulation to keep the temperature constant and to provide some protection from small objects hitting the wearer. The final outer layer is a blend of three fabrics withstanding water, fire and high impact.

USA and Russia currently employ the gas-pressurized enclosures which are balloon-like suits favouring performance over design and comfort. They are more like huge life-saving machines weighing 136 kg, protecting against severe changes in temperature, pressure and CO2 exhausts.

Let us look at costs. For each IVA suit NASA pays $180,000, whilst $12 million for an EVA suit for the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and $80 million per year for its maintenance. These are extra-ordinary clothes that cost extra-ordinary money. But for commercial travel suits the thinking should be different. The requirements are different, there are new functional interactive textiles now that we can explore. We can measure precisely and can model their performance; we can reduce costs, increase comfort and provide good aesthetic design and styling to the costumes of commercial space travel (Figure 1).

Figure 1 The current spacesuit worn outside the International Space Station

It has been recognized that spacesuits are being viewed as “contingency only” and thus marginalized. Since the development of the EMU suit in the 1970s necessary for the shuttle missions and paramount for the International Space Station, NASA decided not to redesign the suit and hence increase its differential pressure, because of high cost. This has resulted in inefficiencies of the operation of these missions because astronauts had to pre-breath to purify their lungs from nitrogen.

For commercial space travel companies may consider flying customers without space suits. Unfortunately history lessons go against this option, because during the Soyuz 11-Salyut 1 mission in 1971 at an altitude of 70 km a sudden loss of cabin pressure killed three astronauts, who were flying without an IVA suit. NASA also tried flying astronauts without spacesuits until the Challenger’s tragedy.

Efforts are so far directed at the technical efficacy of space transportation crafts and not at the actual humans who will have to travel wearing space suits. Textile material scientists and designers should work together to find new materials and explore what new multi-functional SMART fabrics can provide. For example, dielectric elastomers can expand or contract through an electrical current and thus acting as low-power actuators. Shape-memory alloys and thermoforming flexible metals that can return back to their original shape and properties are candidates for further exploration. These materials allow body pressurization to be achieved by heat-activated metals and not by gas, enabling clothing limpness necessary for body shaping and comfort. By weaving, knitting or braiding new suits maybe realized that will have the functionality, but also the comfort and aesthetics that conventional spacesuits cannot have and considerably less than the cost of current spacesuit costs.

The requirements for space tourism maybe different to those for space exploration and compromises in spacesuit requirements maybe considered. Safety, efficiency, comfort and aesthetics will need to work together to develop the next generation of spacesuits, which will undoubtedly be from new SMART, multi-functional adaptive textile materials.

George Stylios