back to article 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 …

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  1. Lars Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Awful

    Awful. First of April or May?

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: Awful

      Name *one* body in this solar system or in space where that blue would not be visible *and position noticeable.

      OK, fail on you. Only on Earth, in sparse conditions, would that suit not be noticed if the owner were in distress.

      1. Sandtitz Silver badge
        Joke

        Re: Awful

        The Sun.

  2. RobHib
    Stop

    Oh dear....

    luminous ID and being designed for comfort and movement are fine, but fashion and other sartorial considerations are a bloody waste of time and money.

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: Oh dear....

      Pity that you never noticed the program or the idiocy of the reporting.

      The program wanted a suit that could be noticed if an astronaut was in distress and find reference points to know where and how the body was situated to administer aid.

      1. RobHib

        @ Wzrd1 -- Re: Oh dear....

        Pity that you never noticed the program or the idiocy of the reporting.

        I did in fact. The fact that NASA is even considering such matters ought to be a good enough excuse to revise its obviously excessive budget.

        1. James Hughes 1

          Re: @ Wzrd1 -- Oh dear.... @RobHib

          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?

          1. RobHib

            @ James Hughes 1 -- Re: @ Wzrd1 -- Oh dear.... @RobHib

            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.

            1. Vociferous

              Re: @ James Hughes 1 -- @ Wzrd1 -- Oh dear.... @RobHib

              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.

  3. Mark 85

    A fully clear helmet???

    I sure do hope that thing is coated with some type of coating for protection from the various harmful radiations out there. Then again, why does the picture look like a screen capture from Buzz Lightyear? A PR campaign leading to nowhere, maybe?

    1. TheFatMan

      Re: A fully clear helmet???

      THANK GOD you posted this.

      I hope NASA read it, otherwise lives could be lost.

      1. James Hughes 1

        Re: A fully clear helmet???

        Bloody right. If the OP hadn't brought this up, it will clearly have been missed by all those professional spacesuit designers. Please, spacesuit designers, think of the children.

        1. frank ly

          @James Hughes 1 Re: A fully clear helmet???

          If they'd thought of the children, they'd have put a lot more shielding around the gonads.

    2. AbelSoul
      Trollface

      Re: I sure do hope that thing is...

      ... coated with some type of coating

      You can probably relax on that count.

    3. Vociferous

      Re: A fully clear helmet???

      Polycarbonate is a decent radiation shield.

  4. anatak

    transport

    Maybe NASA should put some more effort in human rated transport to Mars before planning what to wear ? By NASA I mean the USA government budget deciding committee / cabal.

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: transport

      Because, NASA actually *determines* the US budget, right?

      Idiot savant, or just mere idiot.

      You decide.

      I know my own decision.

    2. Vociferous

      Re: transport

      > Maybe NASA should put some more effort in human rated transport to Mars

      They are.

  5. Vociferous

    Freaking ugly.

    Yes I know, looks aren't exactly a primary concern of a space suit, but still.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Devil

      Re: Freaking ugly.

      Houston, this is Quasimodo. I'm entering the air-lock now...

    2. Robert Grant

      Re: Freaking ugly.

      I was hoping for something like this: http://tinyurl.com/nasaspacesuit.

  6. Norman Hartnell
    Headmaster

    "NASA has announced the winning design to its new line of spacesuits"

    I hope they were listening carefully.

  7. Benjol

    Funny but...

    The posture and camera angle remind me of the green giant :)

    (can't find the old fart icon)

  8. Graham Marsden
    Coat

    Yeah but...

    ... needs a glowing Frisbee on the back...

    --- End of Line ---

  9. Rick Brasche

    now if only

    we could actually get these and some explorers to other worlds to test them, instead of just CGI and deserts on Earth.

    What good is a surface exploration suit without a method or will to get these onto otherworld surfaces?

    1. Vociferous

      Re: now if only

      > 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.

  10. Swarthy
    Joke

    All astronauts are superheroes

    They must be.. They'll be wearing their y-fronts on the outside.

  11. MrT
    Facepalm

    So instead of looking like...

    ...ASIMO (skip to 1:02) the astronauts will look sort of Sontaran-ish. This is not a good move...

    1. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: So instead of looking like...

      *snerk*

      Good catch.

      Upvoted.

  12. ecofeco Silver badge

    Retro cool!

    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.

  13. IT Drone

    Humpty Dumpty

    ... enough said

  14. Kharkov

    Laser focused on a path to Mars?

    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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