M
mental_avenger
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On another thread , which shall remain nameless, there was a discussion about the effects of losing/removing your spacesuit helmet on Mars. There was a great deal of disagreement about what would happen. One of the points centered around whether the type of spacesuit would have any effect on how long the person would survive. That led to the question of how a Mars Spacesuit would be constructed.<br /><br />The Mars Suit.<br />High Altitude/Space suit design has changed a great deal over the years, from the Wiley Post suit reminiscent of a hard hat diver, to the Dover M-suit, with a lot of variation in between. One thing noticeable about the variety, is that many different designs can and do work. Until now, suits had four main uses, high-altitude flight, long duration capsule missions, space station EVA, and Moon surface. Each of these environments favored a different design, and there were dozens of suits designed and built over the years.<br /><br />Now we are faced with another environment, different than any of the others. Again, many different designs are being tried, but several things remain constant. The Mars Suit will need to be lightweight, comfortable, flexible, and warm. It will also have to compensate for the lack of a substantial atmosphere on Mars.<br /><br />Most space suits have an inner pressure suit, and an outer heat/cold/abrasion suit. The Dave Clark G4C suit had a gas-tight, man-shaped pressure bladder made of Neoprene-coated nylon and covered by load-bearing link-net woven from Dacron and Teflon cords. The outer suit is needed for protection against the heat and cold of space. Modern space suits are operated at a reduced pressure. For instance, the Dover M-Suit uses a pressure of .26 atmospheres(4psi). The Dave Clark D-1 (S1035X) operates at 3.75psi. The NASA MKIII operate <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-right:0in" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2" color="#ff0000"><strong>Our Solar System must be passing through a Non Sequitur area of space.</strong></font></p> </div>