Gadgetory

okay yeah all right well if you fall over it hurts I've been lucky enough to watch people launched orbit but I've had to stay behind here on earth and unfortunately being a reporter doesn't really qualify me to be an astronaut but it does let me pretend to dress like one that means one thing Spacey I can really see myself in then get a professor reflective designing a spacesuit is an incredibly complicated process combining knowledge of textiles engineering biology and atmospheric science that means there's no one-size-fits-all for a suit right now astronauts going to the International Space Station have a specialized suit geared for spacewalks in lower Earth orbit but different suits will be needed if we want to go elsewhere in the solar system and they'll have to be tailored to the place an astronaut is going luckily I found a place that will let me cosplay as a future planetary Explorer we're here in the great state of North Dakota the University here has a human spaceflight laboratory where they make prototype spacesuits for going to the moon or to Mars and they said I get to try one on this is Pablo de Lyonne professor here at the University of North Dakota and the head of the lab and that lifeless form on the table between us that's a prototype spacesuit for Mars called the Indy x1 that I'm about to try on it's been tested out in some extreme environments including Antarctica and simulated Martian surfaces at NASA so it's the real deal but first I want to know what takes make a space suit it's very difficult to contain a human inside basically what is hot bag full of oxygen yeah so you know you have to create it in a way that this mobile that is comfortable for the astronauts that is safe and will protect him or her of vacuums and all the other dangers that you have in the face when you design a suit you have to take into consideration of the environment and you have to study that particular place so for example we use a Mars simulant that simulates the characteristics of smart soil because we don't have any more soil yet here on earth so basically dust gravity atmospheric composition Mars may be cold but it can definitely get hot inside a confined suit in order to control temperature astronauts use a full body liquid cooling garment this garment contains tubing that circulates cold water removing heat from the skin but something else that's already used when they do their spacewalk as you can imagine it's slightly uncomfortable but will prevent you from overheating I will be wearing this today but I will need to change my clothes before I get suited up all right so yeah that's alright so there are some restrictions when it comes to filming someone getting into a spacesuit you weren't allowed to film me actually sitting it on because of some international regulations I didn't really mind because getting into such a bulky suit isn't exactly the most graceful experience so clearly this is a three four person job but I'm assuming it's going to be not that fun on Mars either just kidding this way on earth is a bit of a chore the first thing you feel is how heavy and restricting it is it's about thirty pounds here on earth that you're mostly carrying on your shoulders fortunately Mars has one-third the gravity of Earth throw the suit would feel slightly lighter over there plus it didn't fit me exactly right so my fingers didn't quite reach all the way in the glove and then they pressurize it which made things even more difficult you're ready Oh ears are definitely clapping how does anyone move in there's a ball being in a bag of Earth's atmosphere feels a bit like walking in a giant balloon I was getting a workout just trying to keep my arms where I wanted them it's proved challenging when it came to performing simple tasks Lear that roaming around Mars won't be as easy as going for a simple walk but all of this discomfort is just a necessary byproduct of keeping astronauts alive and it's quite an engineering feat that I was able to perform tasks in a suit that's designed to protect me from an alien environment like Mars and you are out oh my goodness you survived okay we'll get you out of a suit all right listen say it's horrible after breaking out of the Mars suit and wiping off the sweat I was ready to head to my next location the moon well sort of we tried on the Martian spacesuit which was intense so we've come to a much easier environment the lunar surface which is only 1/6 Earth's gravity basically I'm going to start my day on the moon in the lunar habitat make my way through this tube to the rover and then dive into this suit and go for a moonwalk the cool thing about this is that this is the only place that you can go from habitat to a rope store to a suit and then boots on the ground and one seamless system so the fact that we can try this out is very critical so here we are in the habitat and you've got your basic you know place to sleep a fridge kitchen but right now I need to for the haves and go to my rover a bit life Discovery Zone alright now we are in the rover but I'm not driving today seem to hit in my suit okay there you go let me know when you reach the end of the boots I needed a bit of help to get my legs into place and then I was ready to pull the release and have a bit of fun no just one there you go and there you are alright alright frolicking in the lunar suit was a bit easier at first it was a training suit so it weighed less and I wasn't fully pressurized also this suit was slightly more spacious making it easier to grip and maneuver but after a while it still got incredibly hot and doing sprints tired me out I'm from irony respect for people's Americans now my main takeaway from all this designing a spacesuit ins thinking about thousands of different problems that don't immediately come to mind and floating around the outside of the station requires a completely different type of suit than one for a Mars expedition or one for a lunar base plus a suit that can keep people alive in these extreme environments isn't exactly the easiest thing to work in to be fair I had Earth's atmosphere and gravity working against me but it's clear I need a lot more training before I can work four hours in a spacesuit so in case you have to do use the restroom you get to do that in here right but it's hopefully you don't feel it for the rest no this is actually this is this is a maximum absorption garment okay maximum absorption