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What's with the space suits?
oracion666
Member Posts: 338 Arc User
I mean, seriously, they are as big, if not bigger, that what astronauts use today! This is supposed to take place in the 25th century, no? So why are they just so bulky? Shouldn't they have slimmed down some?
Formerly known as Echo@Rivyn13
Member since early 2011
Member since early 2011
Post edited by oracion666 on
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"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Member since early 2011
While that was interesting, and thank you for sharing, I am not asking about today's suits. I'm just wondering if there is a basis behind what we use in game, which is supposed to take place centuries ahead of today.
Member since early 2011
today we have better rimes and tyre but it is still round
some time first design is the best design
Maybe because it does not contain a complete life support system and oxygen supply which in turn needs to be protected? :P
Also, the suits need to protect the user phisisycl, aside from getting shot at. IE Micro metriods when out on the D mines. Bits of blown up BoP when strolling outside DS9.
What's my position?
That people should know what they're screaming about!
(paraphrased from "The Newsroom)
You are incorrect.
We are working on the technology for skintight space suits. It's coming along nicely, but it's not ready for primetime yet. There are still a number of issues that need to be solved, chief among them maintaining tension in the right areas of the body (they're based on the principle that the human skin is a very good suit already, but not perfect, and needs mechanical pressure at places like the inside elbows to keep from suffering some internal damage).
The reason modern space suits are so bulky is because they have to be pressurized. The entire thing. They are basically very big, very durable body-shaped balloons that have an internal pressure roughly equal to Earth's atmosphere.
As for the thread topic, STO's environmental suits? They're actually a lot less bulky than an equivalent "modern" spacesuit would look in the same situation. Also, if you tried to beam down to any of the Tholian zones in a present-day spacesuit, you'd roast alive. Trek spacesuits don't just provide basic vacuum survivability, they're full-on hostile environment protection.
EDIT: I didn't see gianni's post before I made mine. You would be surprised how simple the tech to make a skintight spacesuit is; we're actually getting pretty close. It turns out the human body is very good at maintaining internal pressure and, over the vast majority of the human body, the skin is completely airtight. The basic idea of a skintight spacesuit is just to apply mechanical pressure to keep everything in place, and prevent bruising at joints & etc. if I'm remembering right. At that point all they have to pressurize is the area around the head. This is one of my pet Nifty Topics, I really recommend a glance over the wikipedia page and following various links. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit
Well, believe it or not, the shade isn't as much of a problem as you'd expect. In the short term, at least, space is actually a very good heat insulator in and of itself. The reason you get cold is because your body is passing on that heat to the surrounding air, the ground, etc. etc.; whereas in space, there's nowhere for that heat to go. The same principle has been used to make insulated containers - just create a layer of vacuum between the inside and outside surface. Over the long term, you'd cool, certainly, but in the short term you'd be just fine outside of sunlight.
Now, getting cool is another matter. I'm not actually sure how they intend to keep space activity suit relatively cool when it's soaking up sunlight; I understand that the cooling system for modern spacesuits takes up a good portion of the backpack. I'll have to do some digging to see if they've nailed that problem yet or it's still one they have an issue with.
My mistake on the skintight suits, I thought NASA was further along then that in their development, although we still understand the principle behind them. My main point, of course, that NASA just prefers the bulkier suits, is still sound.
The basic principle behind Space Activity Suits is that the suit substitutes mechanical pressure for air pressure on the astronaut's body, literally pressing tight against the astronaut's skin so that only the helmet needs to be pressurized with air.
As far as the in-game EV suits go, I would be okay if future suits were slightly less bulky than the typical ones in-game (the Fed and KDF C-Store suits look about right to me). I don't mind the ones we've got, though - I just always assumed they were more heavy-duty, industrial suits with lots of redundancies and backup systems.