Voters pick luminous tech spacesuit as NASA's off-world fashion statement NASA has announced the winning design to its new line of spacesuits after a public vote on competing style tips. NASA's new Z-2 spacesuit "Why's that little green man laughing at me?" The spacesuit is the second of NASA's Z-Series designs that will one day replace the more traditional suits used in space today. NASA wanted …
You are going to have to explain your thinking there, because your post doesn't really make much sense.
Are you saying that NASA should not plan for emergencies like an astronaut down? Or are you saying they should not be designing new suits at all in order to reduce their budget? If they don't design, who will?
In a country that's lost interest in space research, ipso facto its consistent nuking of NASA's budget over the last 20 or so years, it's preposterous for NASA to be wasting its very limited resources on planning manned flights to other planets. (Of course, the ISS would be an exception.) The precious remaining resources should be put to the most effective use which is in the development of specialised unmanned flights or Hubble's replacement etc.
Thus, the whole concept of developing space suits of the type envisioned here is essentially a waste of time.
Sorry, I thought this would have been obvious.
Note: I'm far from being opposed to manned space flights, but they're better left to counties who've a genuine interest and commitment to space science, China for instance. The glory days for NASA are long gone and it should not let the remaining band of Flash Gordon aficionados within NASA waste its time and effort. NASA's best approach would be to send them all off to learn Chinese.
I agree that robotic exploration is cheaper and more effective -- but eventually we WILL have to build colonies outside Earth, and the best place for a colony is Mars.
Why would the ISS be an exception? It's completely useless, does absolutely zero exploration and approximately zero research, but gobbles vast mountains of cash out of NASA's budget. It's only because the equally useless, limited, and prohibitively expensive Space shuttle has been retired that there now is money to start planning for manned missions to other worlds. No single thing would benefit manned space exploration more than de-orbiting the ISS.
> What good is a surface exploration suit without a method or will to get these onto otherworld surfaces?
Fortunately there is both will and (although still in development) method. The first visit, using the Orion capsule, will be to an asteroid in 2025, with a visit to Mars planned for 2030.
NOT!
They were designing better looking spacesuits in the 1950.
Dear god, the whole world is going backwards.
For a look at what a real 21st century space suit should look like and be, see Dava's Spacesuit
Note the date and specifications.
Sorry, what? NASA is a laser focused on getting to Mars? Bob Zubrin put forward the 'Mars Direct' plan nearly 20 years ago and NASA... did nothing. NASA is currently building a heavy-lifter (badly but don't get me ranting on that) and has no, absolutely no, plans to send stuff to Mars with it. The official NASA plan as part of the SEI back in the 90's had its voyagers spending most of their time (a year & a half) in Martian orbit with about a month on the ground.
No, NASA isn't 'laser focused' on getting to Mars
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