At ILC-Dover near Dover, Delaware, the types of suits that future space explorers will need are undergoing the first active design reviews. But the suits that have kept U.S. astronauts alive aboard the space shuttle and planned for use on the International Space Station will also be shaping the design of the future space traveler's wardrobes.
Those earlier spacesuits were designed for use outside the orbiting shuttles, and had an internal pressure of 4.3 pounds per square inch. Designed to operate in the payload bay of the shuttle orbiter, the body of the suits were made of beta cloth material and were soft. In other words, they had no metallic or hard exterior surfaces. Since the shuttles started flying in 1981, the main area of improvement for the suit has been the astronaut's glove. A program of continuous improvements that have added flexibility, better finger joints, and lights has increased the comfort and utility of the gloves for spacewalking astronauts. Because of the low pressure of the suit, astronauts wearing it to exit the shuttle have had to go through hours of pre-breathing pure oxygen to prepare their body for the reduced pressure. Even the air pressure in the cabin of the shuttle is dropped slightly to reduce the amount of time the astronauts need to adjust to the suit.
For the International Space Station, the modified shuttle suit an entirely new suit was canceled due to budget pressures - will be redesigned for better mobility in spacewalking. More hours outside the ISS will be needed by spacewalkers to actually assemble the station than will have been spent by all of the previous U.S. spacewalks combined. Thus suit designers have increased the suit's reliability and design life before they are needed for overhaul and maintenance. The experience of shuttle crews working in the cold and darkness of space have led designers to add tiny heaters to the suit gloves and better tactile capabilities in the fingers and thumbs.
For future journeys outside of Earth orbit to the Moon or Mars, ILC-Dover engineers have crafted a prototype -- the Mark III Technology Demonstrator. This test suit is made of a hard metallic exterior covered in fabric that will help protect astronauts from radiation, harsh climates, and tiny meteoroids that might rain down from lunar skies. The hard surface will allow a higher pressure than the shuttle/station suits - about 8.3 psi, closer to Earth-like atmospheric pressures. As a result, Moon or Mars walkers won't have to submit to pre-breathing of pure oxygen and will be able to don the suit and exit their spaceships with less preparation time.
While the Mark III is made of hard material, it will be actually lighter than today's suits. The new designs will allow astronauts to go through differing environments, from no gravity to partial gravity and different types of dust without the need for extensive modifications for each type of use.
Whatever final design future astronauts wear, they will be a far cry from the earliest U.S. spacesuits, which were essentially pressure suits from high performance jet aircraft use. The newest spacesuits will almost qualify as "mini spaceships" of their own.
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