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[FStop7]

Is there a purpose behind the lime-green trim?

The birth of using color to designate job speciality, ala Star Trek. Lime green = space models.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Is there a purpose behind the lime-green trim?

Higher visibility.

 

[Borgnine]

Looks like you can carry a wrench around using the Supplemental Non-Adhesive Tool Carrier/Holder.

 

[John Dunbar]

second picture looks like a midget taking a shit.

 

[Lucky Forward]

Higher visibility.

This, I think it's to designate the connection points where the suit comes together so that they're readily apparent in a catastrophic emergency type situation.

TBH, I don't think NASA cares that much what the suits look like, it's more about being able to function in the vacuum of space while not dying. I think the shot of the guy sitting is to show off the flexibility of the suit.

 

[Liquidsnake]

Thanks. You made my 3:15 PST.

 

[Windam]

dat camel toe

Goddammit. CAN'T UNSEE!

 

[Keikaku]

Seriously. Why couldn't the new suits look like this? Making them look like Buzz Lightyear is dumb

Because the Prometheus suits have 2 functions-to look cool and to make sure that everyone can see the actors faces. In actual space the wearers would likely freeze to death.

 

[Candeldandel]

Y'know, the Seahawks have that awful bright-ass lime green on their uniforms, too.

Is it a thing now? I mean, I'm all for the neon craziness of the early 90s, but narrowing it down to one color doesn't work that well...

 

[Dan]

To be clear, this is not a final design. It's a prototype that they've been testing for the last 6 months. Flexibility is a very major thing they're focusing on, along with working for a much wider variety of environments.

Unlike the current spacesuit, crew members enter the Z-1 through a hatch on back that attaches to the spacecraft. Because the new suit operates at the same pressure as the cabin, the wearer can spend less time "prebreathing," or breathing in pure oxygen to prepare the body for something that would involve a significant change in pressure, like a spacewalk.
The suit is also equipped with a backpack, or Portable Life Support System, that provides oxygen, removes carbon dioxide and cools the astronaut.

The backpack also shows what two decades of new technology can bring. It’s more robust and less vulnerable to contamination than the current model and has more capabilities. For example, the current backpack uses a sublimator to cool the suit, but that only works in a hard vacuum. NASA wanted one that would work on Mars, so the Z-1 uses a water membrane evaporation cooler that cools using the same principle as sweating and it’s tough enough to survive freezing.

Another improvement are the scrubbers to remove carbon dioxide. The current ones use lithium hydroxide/metal oxide carbon dioxide scrubbers, which need to be baked between missions to drive off the carbon dioxide. The new ones regenerate automatically by dumping the carbon dioxide every few minutes.

Lessons learned from Z-1 will be used to develop Z-2, the next-generation prototype. NASA hopes to have a new vacuum-compatible suit by 2015.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I think it's sinfully ugly, but who gives a shit as long as it functions well.

 

[Salsa]

Higher visibility.

yeah people in the white suits are easy to get lost in the black space

wait

Spoiler

I kid

 

[Huw_Dawson]

So basically the reason why it looks like a cheap prototype is because it is a cheap prototype.

 

[dabig2]

I'm sure Ridley Scott knows more about fitting life survival systems including freaking oxygen than NASA.

Actually, his movie suits really resemble the biosuits made by Dava Newman. It's supposed to increase flexibility and mobility for planetary environments like Mars where that stuff is kind've needed.

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/45/45s_building_future_spacesuit.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65s95VAwd0c

 

[Dan]

So basically the reason why it looks like a cheap prototype is because it is a cheap prototype.

Eh, I don't think it's cheap or lacking, it's just using modern, flexible materials. It's been over 20 years since NASA last updated its spacesuit. A lot has changed since then.

 

[Baconsaurus Rex]

It looks like shit. Radioactive glowing shit

 

[Kinyou]

I hope it's at least cheap.

 

[Dan]

Actually, his movie suits really resemble the biosuits made by Dava Newman. It's supposed to increase flexibility and mobility for planetary environments like Mars where that stuff is kind've needed.

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/45/45s_building_future_spacesuit.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65s95VAwd0c

But that's only for planetary environments. This Z-1 suit would also accommodate spacewalks.

 

[Bomber Bob]

AAA+

 

[FStop7]

I want to see some space cargo shorts and space flip flops.

 

[KidGalactus]

Looks like a consumer version of a space suit

 

[GK86]

I can understand why the did it, but it doesn't make it any less ugly.

 

[Dance Inferno]

ROFL

 

[Pie Lord]

dat camel toe

Well done gentlemen, well done.

 

[Phaethon0017]

I guess they really did need that funding after all...

 

[- J - D -]

Awful. Hilarious.

 

[dabig2]

But that's only for planetary environments. This Z-1 suit would also accommodate spacewalks.

Right, I was answering back for why Ridley Scott went with the suits he did in the Prometheus movie since that movie was spent entirely in an earth-like environment.

As for the topic at hand, the Z-1 suit is fine for spacewalks. Sure as hell wouldn't like wearing that on Mars though.

 

[speedpop]

Do they still wear diapers?

 

[Ark]

Beautiful, bravo.

 

[xclaw]

Why do these things have to be so poofy? Ugh.

 

[Pop On Arrival]

We're still a long way away from those sexy spacesuits people wear in most scifi movies, unfortunately. Well hopefully not that long, but damn do humans look silly floating around in our pressurized space suits. ;(

they have to be puffy like that because it's not only for oxygen; theyre also pressure suits that keep your flabby ass alive. A typical spacesuit has like 1/3th of the earths natural atmospheric pressure, I think. if you don't have a pressurized suit, you will die. Everything I said could be wrong as I'm just repeating shit from youtube.

 

[meltingparappa]

Do they still wear diapers?

For urination within the suit, they actually use a sort of form-fitting condom. This is one of the reasons the program was reticent for female astronauts for so long. Previously they used catheters.

For the ole' number two, most shuttle living spaces have a space toilet that supposedly doesn't work, and most of the time they have to default to a bag that you hold over your anus, then pull it out manually with your fingers. AND THEN squirt a germicide gel and massage it in, so that the e. coli doesn't expel gas and make the bag explode.

Jim Lowell, the astronaut portrayed by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, said that you know you're reached a new level of intimacy with a fellow astronaut when you can convince them to work the bag for you.

And now you know!


Another fun piece of trivia is the Russian cosmonaut suits had a cyanide capsule inside, in case they go adrift in space. American suits, by contrast, have snacks for the calories burnt when performing a spacewalk.


Also based on those poses alone, that suit is infinitely more flexible than the current one.

 

[hateradio]

That suit looks so cumbersome.

 

[Mudkips]

Seriously. Why couldn't the new suits look like this? Making them look like Buzz Lightyear is dumb

Because the suits in Prometheus look retarded in their own right and are completely impractical to boot.

 

[Teknoman]

Looks like you can carry a wrench around using the Supplemental Non-Adhesive Tool Carrier/Holder.

lol I cant wait to see the actual acronyms they come up with.

 

[legacyzero]

It doesn't even look practical.

 

[Tesseract]

Because the suits in Prometheus look retarded in their own right and are completely impractical to boot.

ethereal. dude is sitting indian style, what more do you want?

 

[AstroNut325]

It doesn't even look practical.

Hollywood suits aren't made with physics, space, and non-earth like environments in mind with the exception of air.

 

[davepoobond]

he looks like a slug penis.

also, did they really have to have him pretend to pick up a rock as if he was going to be on some planet and then sitting cross-legged? when the hell is either going to happen?

fucking lol

 

[meltingparappa]

also, did they really have to have him pretend to pick up a rock as if he was going to be on some planet and then sitting cross-legged? when the hell is either going to happen?

I think it's to demonstrate flexibility, as the previous suits could barely bend at the knees, much less the hip.

 

[Confidence Man]

No American flag? What happened to American exceptionalism?

 

[DrForester]

No American flag? What happened to American exceptionalism?

Well Obama doesn't want astronauts, so there's no need to an American space suit.

 

[AstroNut325]

I think it's to demonstrate flexibility, as the previous suits could barely bend at the knees, much less the hip.

Yup. People have no idea how restricting the old suits were.

 

[Diamond]

Seconds later...

 

[Ominym]

I like that it looks like he's wearing oversized boxer underwear.

 

[Canis lupus]

Looks more comfortable...

 

[satori]

Seconds later...

I fuking love gaf...hahaha

 

[meppi]

So are we aiming to be the laughing stock of the galaxy now?

If so, bravo to all involved!

 

[Randdalf]

Do they have the glowy rimlights that all hip spacesuits have nowadays?

 

[Busty]

Looks dorky as fuck.

*folds arms*

Isn't there a story that NASA contacted the designers of the Deep Impact space suits after seeing the film and asking them for help designing the real thing......., or something.