If you are going to travel to Mars, you want to look good. You wouldn’t want to look like you just stepped out of the late 1960′s, like NASA‘s more iconic space suits. The space agency has announced a new space suit design dubbed the Z-2, which looks like its design was inspired by video games and science fiction movies alike. The design of the new suit promises better mobility, as well as protection from the harsh climates of planetary exploration.
The new design was chosen by the public, as votes were cast for a favorite suit design out of three available designs. The winning design, being the Z-2, appeared to excite fans of various Science Fiction influences who identified the design as being inspired by various films. Most notably, the movie ‘Tron Legacy‘ seemed to be the consensus for the design’s inspiration. Either way, the design seems to provide the functionality and updating that NASA was looking for. The aging space agency will undoubtedly inspire some future astronauts to join as a result of the refreshed image and look of the space suit.
The actual building of functional prototypes will begin shortly, after the required body scans are made to determine how the working parts of the suits interior should be laid out to most comfortably accommodate astronauts. The working parts of the suit are planned to be 3-D printed, further merging the design of the suit with something that would have been science fiction a few years ago.
The new prototypes for the Z-2 suit will need to undergo rigorous testing in simulated environments before they can be approved for use in Space Walks on the International Space Station. The testing is expected to begin sometime around November 2014, and includes vacuum environment testing as well as harsh climate testing. The environments of our solar system’s planets vary greatly, but these suits will be built with human visitation to Mars in mind. Other space agencies such as Mars One plan to send humans to Mars in the coming decades, and NASA’s new suit could potentially be used by those pioneers who are volunteering to go there as we speak.
NASA’s New Z-2 Space Suit Looks Inspired By Science Fiction.
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