Space Suits — Not the ones you think!
If you have traveled by airplane, the following must ring a bell:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, as we prepare to take off, please pay attention to the instructions, in case of emergencies oxygen masks will drop from the overhead compartments and…..” (Earphones plugged in)
Even though we no longer pay attention to these announcements but these oxygen masks play an important role in saving the lives of people in case of DEPRESSURIZATION.
School time? If you remember your science textbooks
| If height ⬆️ then air becomes thin 〰️ making it difficult to breathe👃
Thus in airplanes, the air pressure is maintained so that breathing is easy for the passengers but when depressurization occurs it means that due to some malfunction or technical reason, this air is leaking and at that time :
(If no oxygen mask is there)
Pressure in the cabin is reducing= decrease of O2 = = air becoming thinner = difficulty in breathing = unconscious = 💀
(With oxygen mask)
Pressure in the cabin is reducing = masks drop = “wear your mask first” = assist other = 😌All izz well.
IT’S AN AIRPLANE NOW, but what about when we travel to SPACE so casually?
No mask will help there if the space shuttle starts to depressurize, as in addition to what happened in the plane, the extreme temperatures of those altitudes will freeze eyeballs open, and low pressure will pull the gas out of the lungs and burst eardrums.
ENTER space suits (dramatic music)
The suits you see them wearing are called IVA suit (intravehicular space suit). These are worn by astronauts when leaving or entering the earth’s atmosphere with the entire focus on the safety and survival of the astronauts.
So is this the oxygen mask replacement for space shuttles?
Well, it does way more than just provide oxygen. Let’s take the earlier astronauts in the photo and imagine how they would get ready for the flight. So when they enter the shuttle:
- They sit, all cramped up.
- Then pull a cord (umbilical cord) from the side of their seats and plug it into their suit. This is what helps to pressurize suits in case of depressurization.
- Then they attach another cord which helps in communications and other life support requirements (oxygen, water)
- Another cord for temperature maintenance
- Then fasten their seatbelts and begin fiddling with the controls till the T minus starts
It is this partnership of seat and the suit called the seat-suit system (yes, a lot of thought was put into the name) that makes this level of protection possible for the astronauts.
Along with all this, the suit also :
- Regulates Temperature
- Protects from radiation
- Allows for a good range of motion which is restricted in the heavy bulky EVA suits (basically ones used for spacewalks).
- Fire resistant
- IVA suits also contain interfaces with parachutes, Earth survival equipment, and water flotation devices, depending on the mission’s flight path.
The suit's overall aim is to protect the astronaut against depressurization or any sort of malfunctions that might occur in the cabin which can lead to death.
They came into being because..
Unfortuantely, in the 1971 Russian Soyuz 11 mission, 3 cosmonauts Georgy Kobrovolsky, Vladisalv Volkov, and Victor Patsayev lost their lives as the cabin began to depressurize and their suits didn’t have the ability to help them in those situations. To make sure such a thing doesn’t happen again, the IVA suits were designed to act like a bag of earth’s pressure in such emergencies.
But, what about “those” emergencies…. you know like… nature’s call?
Waste management is a standard feature of IVA suits where both urine and solid waste are either (be ready for this) stored or recycled.
FOR URINE
- Collection system: Yes it is what it sounds like, the urine is collected and stored while the suit is being worn.
- Water recycling: The life support system of the IVA suit also has a water recycling technology that allows astronauts to reuse water from their waste.
FOR SOLID WASTE
- Collection system: Similar to urine, this too is stored in what they call a fecal collection bag which is attached to their suit.
All of which that was collected💩, is then disposed off later through the spacecraft's waste management system where it is again stored -> processed -> disposed in space.
Now the orange suit you saw earlier is only used by NASA,
Every space agency and private company has developed its own IVA space suits that fit the needs of their respectively designed space shuttles and are sometimes even tailored according to the mission’s requirements.
All the suits perform the same functionality and exist for the same purpose which is prioritizing safety and survival above anything else and ensuring the flight of the astronauts is hassle-free.
If you give them a closer look you would notice that they all look sort of similar with all those cords, inlets, and sort of rigidness, just the color and the positions of things are changed, but now what if I told you that we have an IVA suit that disrupts this style and design on the suit that has been going on for years.
Who is this Disruptor?
A suit that also gave priority to the ‘design’ and ‘experience’ of wearing and working in IVA suits, meaning along with ensuring safety measures, the suit enhances the way astronauts interact with their spacecraft and how an astronaut would feel wearing it. A beautiful mixture of functionality, technology, and design is called STARMAN by SpaceX
….😳
Musk being Musk chose a peculiar rather smart way to arrive at this design. He reached out to Jose Fernandez to design the suit. For those who just skipped that name read it again because he is actually a Hollywood superhero costume designer and had designed the costumes of Batman, Spiderman, Wonder woman, Captain America, and so on.
How does it make the experience better?
Well, that is a topic for the next time. This time I just wanted to talk about the use and functionality of a suit that goes unseen and is unheard of but plays an essential part in saving the life of the astronauts.
Thank you for reading, hope you liked it 😌
