Orbital Outfitters: 20kg space suits?

[docm]

That's what <font color="yellow">Orbital Outfitters</font>/a> says....<br /><br />Testing will be done on a high-altitude Armadillo platform @ 3,640km, whereupon the astronaut will space-dive back to Earth [eek] <br /><br />See the <a target="_blank" href="http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=businesstech&Number=735327&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=1&vc=1#Post735327">Armadillo Rising thread for more details.<br /><br />IIRC this months PopSci has a cover article.<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><b>The Orbital Outfitters Line of Space Suits:</b><br /><br />The first suit under development by OO is a basic pressure suit. Its primary function is to provide a line of protection in the event of a loss of atmospheric pressure within a vehicle.<br /> <br />In keeping with OO's goal of setting an industrial standard, this type of suit is called the Industrial Sub-Orbital Space Suit (IS3). The IS3 combines functionality, re-useability and a “coolness†factor not present in space suits of the past. In fact, certain areas of the visual design are drawn from science fiction.<br /> <br />While you might expect some pictures here of what our suit will look like, we have decided to keep our design proprietary for now. We believe it is more important to demonstrate Real Progress than fancy images that may or may not have any bearing on the truth. However, stay tuned, as in the next few months as more design elements are set we will post sketches and renditions of our products.<br /> <br />OO Space Suits are being developed to meet several basic performance criteria. IS3 suits:<br /> <br />• Provide Life support function for 30 minutes or more at 500,000 feet<br />• Have a mass of < 20Kg<br />• Are full pressure single gas (O2) suits<br />• Are comfortable to wear<br />• Are integrated into a parachute harness<br />• Grant</p></blockquote></a> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[no_way]

Rebirth of MOOSE ?

 

[MeteorWayne]

I assume 3640 km was a typo?<br />Edit: I realize you got it from their article, but....<br /><br />That's ten times LEO <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[docm]

Just reporting, not editing <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />If the pix I've seen are any indication these suits are both very 40's/50's retro and have an integrated TPS for space-diving. 100 miles better fits the 500,000 foot/94.7 mile life support duration in the specs. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Fair enough, but I find it very disconcerting that these press releases would have such obvious errors. (one in the other thread as well) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[spacefire]

if IS3 this works, it might usher a new era of backyard manned rocketry. Imagine individuals driving to the desert with a rocket in their trailer, strapping thesemselves to it and trying to beat altitude records <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br />fun fun fun! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[docm]

On OO's specs page they list 500k feet, about 94 miles.<br /><br />PopSci article, with pics.... <br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><b>High Dive</b><br /><br />Ride a rocket into space and then abandon ship? You’d need to be nuts—or desperate. Either way, space diving could be the future of reentry<br /><br /><b>Scenario 1: Sport</b><br /><br />Sixty miles up, you sit in a chair on the open deck of a small rocket, admiring the stars above, the Earth far, far below. The vacuum beyond your visor is cold, but it would boil your blood if your pressure suit failed. You give your parachute straps a reassuring pat. It’s utterly silent. Just you and your fragile body, hovering alone above the Earth. “Space Diver One, you are go,†crackles a voice in your ear, and you undo your harness and stand up. There’s nothing for it now: You paid a lot of money for this.<br /><br />You breathe deeply and leap, somersaulting into the void. The mother planet is gorgeous from up here. You barely perceive that it’s rushing up toward you, and your body relaxes. You streak into the atmosphere at 2,500 miles an hour, faster than anyone’s ever gone without a vehicle. The sky lightens, the stars disappear behind the blue, and a violent buffeting begins. You deploy your drogue chute for stability; an uncontrolled spin in this thin air would rip you apart. The thick lower atmosphere slows you to 120 mph—terminal velocity. After a thrilling seven-minute plummet, you pull your main chute at 3,000 feet, hands shaking, and glide in for landing. A mile away, your rocket retro-thrusts its way gently to the ground.<br /><br /><b>Scenario 2: Safety</b><br /><br />Sixty miles up, you float easily in the cabin of a small rocket, admiring the stars above, the Earth far, far below. Suddenly, alarms sound. Space debris has pierced the ship, and it begins to</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spacelifejunkie]

I almost slobbered reading this article. One word, "WOW!"<br /><br /><br />SLJ

 

[steve70]

I'm sorry but this seems......oh, I don't know. Extremely and unnecessarily Dangerous.<br /><br />For safety, I can see this as a last resort, but the "just for kicks" aspect of this leaves me wondering about peoples sanity. <br /><br /><br />

 

[summoner]

I'd think a heck of alot safer than the ones that dive off buildings or cliffs. Some people get kicks of of some weird things. I applaud the the people who have the nads to skydive but not me, I'll stick to the golf course. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:271px;background-color:#FFF;border:1pxsolid#999"><tr><td colspan="2"><div style="height:35px"><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/htmlSticker1/language/www/US/MT/Three_Forks.gif" alt="" height="35" width="271" style="border:0px" /></div>

 

[steve70]

I know some people need that rush. I happen to be in the other crowd....the "I enjoy not being splattered upon impact" . crowd

 

[no_way]

Im a recreational skydiver. I wouldnt do a BASE jump ( the ones jumping off the buildings and bridges as you say ) if i was paid to, but i would do that for my own money.<br />Maybe even be a guinea pig, if given a chance.<br /><br />The thing with BASE is there is no safety margin. You have no time to react if anything goes wrong, there is no reserve, and even if your gear operates perfectly and you do everything right, a freak gust of wind can hurl you into stone wall.<br />Normal skydiving has plenty of safety margin, that is if you deliberately dont damage your gear and do anything stupid. I suspect they will build enough margin into this thing as well.

 

[spacefire]

to parachute from orbit, I bet there's an inflatable system that deploys around the spacediver to increase drag.<br />Otherwise he or she is toast. Literally. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

But they said from "3,640km" which while it does not need to be in orbit, is an uneccesarily high experiment <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Personally, I'd rather jump from 330 km; it will take a lot less time to come down in most cases... at a possibly less extreme speed.<br /><br />From 3640 km, youre going to be doing more than orbital speed, straight down into the atmosphere.<br /><br />I suspect you'd make a real ash of yourself <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[docm]

<font color="yellow">I know some people need that rush. I happen to be in the other crowd....the "I enjoy not being splattered upon impact" . crowd</font><br /><br />Speaking as a <i><b>very</b></i> early BASE jumper, actually before the term was even coined, sometimes we have more cojones than common sense <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />My first was off the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio.<br /><br />If I were younger I'd do this in a heartbeat. Just because. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[no_way]

Heh, so you didnt actually jump with proper BASE gear then ?<br /><br />To me, there are just so many other cool skydiving disciplines that BASE really does not beckon. I can certainly understand why other people ( including a few of my good pals ) do it.<br /><br />For me, i am itching to get a wingsuit on, i have to do about 30 jumps before our local regulations allow this. And after i sell my grandma's kidneys, i will get a helmet camera as well to get some freeflying action on tape later on ( plus, filming tandem jumps pays a nice dime, once im proficient enough )<br /><br />Spacediving will go on a TODO list, but probably not before i can get my hands on the pension fund

 

[spacefire]

S_G, they are considering it for the future, as the Popular Science article states:<br /><br /><font color="yellow"> “Our ultimate goal,†Tumlinson says, “is to have individual human beings return from orbit alive.†That’s a drop from 150 miles—or more—involving increased heat and near-deadly Gs, essentially turning their divers into human meteorites</font><br /><br /><br />btw it might be just paranoia, but I noticed you always try to rebuke what I say, is it because of personal dislike or do you do that to everyone?<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[scottb50]

I would think that could be easily doable. SpaceshipII could take a bunch of jumpers. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Boris_Badenov]

While I agree it would be doable, I doubt seriously it would be easy. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[scottb50]

While I agree it would be doable, I doubt seriously it would be easy....<br /><br />I think it would be very easy. Not as many passengers as a normal flight. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[no_way]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>SpaceshipII could take a bunch of jumpers<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Im suspecting that open, unpressurized VTVL platforms will be better for this, and at least early on in development of the sport, one thing that you _dont_ want is a bunch of jumpers going at once.<br /><br />With skydiving, every new thing tried personally in the sky is normally done alone first ( student maneuvering practices, learning freeflying, wingsuit flying, first jumps with new canopies and so on ) to reduce risk factors.<br /><br />With something so bleeding edge like this, you definitely want just one jumper initially, until the flight regimes are better characterized and boundaries explored.

 

[brellis]

Looks great, but how big is the target for landing? <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[jimfromnsf]

"I would think that could be easily doable. SpaceshipII could take a bunch of jumpers."<br /><br />Not doable. SSII is going Mach something. The jump off the platform are starting from zero (BASE jump)

 

[docm]

Let's not forget that back in the 60's an SR-71 pilot punched out at Mach-3 plus & survived, and at 3x or more the altitude I doubt the shock would be near as severe. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jimfromnsf]

He had a seat that provided some protection