Why?
Why not? How often do you get a chance to build towards a spacesuit? This project is as journey itself too, a quirky and expressive one.
Architecture and Concept
Taking the software concepts to the space suit, creating a framework for agile spacesuit development with APIs for developers to develop plugin to the suit, your personal feedback and actuator network with an emphasis on the interaction and fashion design.
A modularised garment with separation of layers (and concerns) to allow expensive parts to be repaired, cheap parts to be thrown away and consumable to be replaceable on the spot is the main principle of the technical design.
A modularised garment with separation of layers (and concerns) to allow expensive parts to be repaired, cheap parts to be thrown away and consumable to be replaceable on the spot is the main principle of the technical design.
EXOSKN's layers, from the outer layer in:
- Outer garment - durable protective outer jacket with coatings and smart materials to protect against the hostile environment - investigate non-Newtonian liquids for absorbing impact and EMF coating to shield radiation.
- Inner garment - Sensor Network Layer (SNL) to relay control to and feedback from the durable protective outer jacket - it might be possible to stretch a sensor network over the body tightly based on this research. The idea is to use flexible substrate and conductive thread and paint in this network, so it would also be more wearable.
- (experimental) energy harvesting function to power the sensor network layer by body heat/solar energy as much as possible to avoid fuel issues. - Under garment - cheap, hygenic, high wicking, closely tailored undergarment that is comfortable to wear. Must be washable or a throw-away item.
EXOSKN add-ons:
These are additional garment layers or accessories that is like a plug and play extensions (think decorators if you are an object oriented programmer) to the layers of the suit described above:
These are additional garment layers or accessories that is like a plug and play extensions (think decorators if you are an object oriented programmer) to the layers of the suit described above:
- A retractable wrist band that hooks onto an interchangeable set of tools, so equipment can be let loose but without getting lost.
- Van der Waals force based material snap-ons to allow explorers to stablise against and move on the target of operations
- Adaptations of COTS to support augmented reality for helmet
Notable near term goals of the sensor network layer (SNL):
- motor control relay from a network of flex sensors in the SNL to outer layers of the suit, focusing on joints
- health and comfort of the explorer is displayed in a fashionable, unobtrusive and obvious way on the outer layers of the suit
- feedback of environmental condition, where appropriate, from outer layers of the suit to SNL in the form of haptic feedback
Reference Materials
Existing spacesuit designs: http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/az/astro/wardrobe.pdf
An overview of the components of the existing EVA suit (source: NASA):
An overview of the components of the existing EVA suit (source: NASA):
The evolution of the IVA suit (source: NASA):