Mars is the next goal for human exploration in space. Already NASA and other organizations are mounting preparations to reach it. One of the biggest challenges for man on Mars would be its environment. A suit will have to be adapted to Mars. A Mars suit is being designed by the Rhode Island School of Design and NASA for the manned expedition.
The challenge in making a suit for Mars would be to protect the person from the environment on Mars as well as from radiation. Students and members of Rhode Island School of Design are meeting that challenge. This new suit almost resembles an actual space suit.
The suit has been presented in Providence and would be used for the next Mars simulated mission in 2017 in Hawaii. Just this year another Mars simulation mission has just ended last August. It has been the fourth Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation or HI-SEAS.
The crew for the simulation has observed that there is a need for a better suit. This has been said by Sheyna Gifford, the simulation mission's space doctor. A more realistic suit would give the crew a better way of analyzing how it would work in an environment like Mars. It would also help them in knowing how to perform using the suit and what possible tools could be used with it.
Andrzej Stewart, chief engineering officer for the Mars simulated mission, tried out the suit at RISD, according to Phys Org. The suit has been tested for its ability to facilitate movement and ventilation. Stewart observed that the suit is well ventilated and movement is quite restricted, much like what an actual space suit would.
The suit weighs around 50 pounds and is composed of 16 parts. It is made mostly of heavy-duty nylon fabric along with carbon fiber as a hard shell on the upper torso, as ABC News reports. The suit can be resized so that it can fit any body size.
The suit is the only one made by RSID and would be given to HI-SEAS. The Mars suit being designed by Rhode Island School of Design and NASA would be evaluated. Another suit for Mars has been made earlier, this time for the MarsOne project.
