Suit of the “Martian”: specialist view



    Heading "Blog guest". Today, Nikolai Moiseev is a co-founder of Final Frontier Design , an American private space company that develops space suits. Many could already learn about Nikolai and his company from the publications of Medusa or Geektimes . Today, at my request, he is commenting on the footage of the future science fiction film, The Martian. Review of the design of the "spacesuit" movie Riddle Scott "The Martian"

    Martian spacesuit



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    Undoubtedly this is not a real spacesuit, but the fantasy of a costume designer. At forums in America dedicated to the presentation of some real, real spacesuit, I met comments like “I don’t like this spacesuit, but the spacesuit from such a movie or illustration for such a book or computer game”. That is, the most important thing is now assessing the appearance, and my teachers at Zvezda taught me that every ribbon and costume detail on the suit is strictly functional and not for beauty. Times are changing and functionality is now at a premium. Elon Musk, the main requirement for the Dragon capsule suit, put forward ONE requirement - the suit should be bad ass looking. I did not find this meaning in the dictionaries, and friends of the Americans explained to me that it means "look cool." A serious company has only one requirement for a spacesuit! Now their development is hiding from the public, but I hope Ilon will keep his promise and present his brainchild to the public at the end of the year.

    Well, okay, let's leave SpaceX and get back to the movie. The trend is clear and we do not attract professionals, but we do as it seems to the artist. The “Martian” spacesuit has a light filter. This is debatable. For Mars, it is not needed, because the sun is seen much smaller and is located further.

    martian spacesuit (12)


    The filter is located inside the helmet, inside the main glazing. This reminds me of the "Leon" Berkut, in which the design bureau did not take into account the results of thermal calculations (they did such a study in the billing department, but they did not read it and did not take it into account). Alexey Arkhipovich was very hot, his face and head were sweating as a result of the fact that the light filter inside the helmet reflected heat fluxes not only outward into space, but also into the spacesuit. Then the commission worked and dealt with failures and problems during the flight. So, it was like a joke, veterans and witnesses of those launches told. In the report of the counters in black and white it was written that the filter should be outside! And they made a helmet with a light filter inside! Well, for Mars this location is not critical, but the filter itself is objectively not needed, unless in the version without a reflective gold coating and as additional. thermal protection for work at night on the surface of Mars with special. antireflective night coating.

    martian spacesuit (6)

    The most important thing is that the spacesuit for the film is made as a spacesuit of crimp action, and not standard with a ventilation gap. The classic spacesuits existing and flying now are shells of anthropomorphic form, inflated and providing oxygen for breathing. Cumbersome enough, limited mobility. But functional. Roughly speaking, the spacesuit system consists of two subsystems - the shell of the spacesuit and the life support system. On the shell, specially designed joints and bearings for mobility. The hinges of a spacesuit that can bend under excessive pressure in my opinion are the highlight of the design of the spacesuit and the original specificity about which there is almost no literature and very few specialists,
    To provide thermal control, the subshell space requires ventilation and cooling using a special ventilation system and a water-cooling suit for VKD [Extra-Ship Activities].

    The crimp action of a spacesuit is when the fabric of a suit of a spacesuit directly compresses the cosmonaut's body. English Mechanical Counter Pressure Suit (MCP Suit). The most famous projects are the Space activity suit Paul Webb (Paul Webb) and Bio-Suit Dave Newman (Dava Newman). Dave is now NASA's deputy head.

    martian spacesuit (11)

    The advantages are called less volume, better mobility, no ventilation system is required, since the vapor goes through the fabric. There is also body cooling and CO2 emissions are removed, etc. MCP Suit is often presented as the most progressive design concept for spacesuits. But not a single such suit has ever flown or been used. Modern altitude-compensating suits of military pilots also squeeze the body and save the pilot in case of depressurization of the cockpit and allow time to drop to dense layers of the atmosphere. The key point here is that the HCC give time to decrease and they do not compress during the flight, but only work when the pressure in the cabin decreases. Why is that?

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    VKK is very painful and after them bruises on the body. Compression does not occur on the whole body, but on the legs, thighs, arms and body. The groin area, armpits, popliteal fossae, feet, hands, for example, are not crimped. And the blood will rush to these areas and the longer the time in the cabin without pressure the more painful ...

    What are the disadvantages of the MCP Suit?

    - to prevent hematomas (bruises on simple) and hemorrhages on the skin and more serious consequences, pressure on the body or compression compression should be equal and the same throughout the body, which is difficult to do. And in a classic spacesuit this is provided automatically. The human body is complex and there are natural fossae and concavities, for example, the shoulder from the outside is easy to squeeze, and the armpit is problematic.
    - Some areas of the body are very sensitive to compression. These are the genitals in men and the breasts in women.
    - the human body changes its size in the process of movement and life. Breast when breathing changes its girth. Under load, the biceps strain and increase in size and so on. They wrote at an American forum - what about an erection in men? After all, this sometimes happens. More or less ...
    - a compression level of 220 mmHg or approximately 30 kPa (0.3 atm, 4.3 psid). What to compare with? Men's socks are compressed with a compression of 5 mm RT. Medical compression garments (such as socks) compress 30-40 mm RT. You can buy and try them. Wearing it is uncomfortable. And even painful. You have to put on a sock for about two minutes. Now imagine how it puts pressure on the whole body ... And how to wear such a spacesuit? Paul Webb put on his suit for 45 minutes with the help of two assistants.
    - the transition from a suit to a helmet requires sealing because a hard helmet is inflated, but no spacesuit. The sealing seal is placed on the neck and it hurts again. Our neck is sensitive to pressure on it.
    - Outside of such a spacesuit you need protective clothing, which we see in the “Martian”.
    - The cooling system through evaporation through the fabric raises questions. Outside the spacesuit is a vacuum or, as in the case of Mars, a very rarefied atmosphere or almost a vacuum. In the case of intense work, it is clear that the astronaut will sweat and the sweat will evaporate through the MCP Suit fabric. But what about in case of rest? The astronaut is standing or sitting, but the fabric does not hold anything and evaporation always goes on. There will be drying out, discomfort at least, and hypothermia. Finding balance is yet to come.

    These points were known among experts.

    In the process of preparing these comments, I came to one more point. One of the “outstanding” advantages of MCP Suit is the fact that when the shell of a classic spacesuit is punctured, depressurization will occur and oxygen / air will escape, and the astronaut will die. And in MCP Suit, this is not scary, since the suit is not tight by definition.



    It is difficult to pierce the outer clothing (outer layers of 8-9 layers) of the VKD spacesuit, plus a power shell and a pressure jacket. In the book I read, a pin pierced the suit and the blood sealed the puncture and the suit did not lose oxygen. Costumers realized the idea of ​​MCP Suit in the film.

    Note Zelenyikot: apparently, Nikolai means that the storyline with blood that seals the hole in the spacesuit is appropriate when using the classic type of inflated spacesuits. In this case, the earliest book fanart is more authentic :
    martian spacesuit (1)

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