TL 8 vacc suit?

[Black Globe Generator]

Prototype Mars Space Suit Unveiled in N.D..

 

[parmasson]

Looks like something from the 1950s!

 

[Fritz_Brown]

And, the students say they haven't addressed the problem of bodily needs, yet. "You have to hold it"?! And, the nearest BP is .5AU away? I don't think so!

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
And, the students say they haven't addressed the problem of bodily needs, yet. "You have to hold it"?! And, the nearest BP is .5AU away? I don't think so!

Kinda makes that first Martian service station/minimart franchise look like a gold mine, doesn't it?

 

[Uncle Bob]

Here is the University of North Dakota site. The suit looks like a spacesuit, but the devil is in the details.
http://www.human.space.edu/
I would say a TL7 spacesuit, maybe a very well developed TL6.
For a real TL8, see A Chameleon Suit to Liberate Human Exploration of Space Environments

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Y'know, I find myself wondering how a project like this ended up at the University of North Dakota instead of someplace like CalTech or MIT.

(No disrespect to the Fighting Sioux intended.)

 

[Uncle Bob]

Well, this isn't (forgive the expression) rocket science. This hardware ain't gonna fly, it is just an educational exercise.

 

[Plankowner]

UND did it using a $100,000 grant. There is little chance that MIT or CalTech would touch something like this for such a small amount of money. The article on CNN.com also mentioned that a lot of the hardware was off-the-shelf stuff. I believe the boots were reinforced cold weather boots.

It is a first step towards a TL8 Vacc Suit IMHO.

 

[Uncle Bob]

They look like they may have started as LL Bean Storm Chaser boot

Here is the LL Bean boot, although they may have used commercial equivalents, because the sole doesn't look right.

BTW, www.human.space.edu now has mpeg movies of the suit being tested.

 

[Todg]

Hooray for UND!

It's not about how much money you throw at a problem, it's about good engineering. A Cr10,000 vacc suit will probably be more like this. Consider that a David Clark suit runs about $1,000,000 plus per unit, or close to Cr325,000 in adjusted money.