Space Technology

The future of spacesuits

Gas-pressurized suits face a fundamental tradeoff. Since breathing gas also provides counterpressure, the suit pressure directly affects two competing factors:

Higher pressure = shorter prebreathe time, but reduced mobility (every movement feels like being inside an inflated bike tire)

Lower pressure = better mobility during EVA, but requires hours of prebreathe in the airlock to safely reach ~4.3 psi @ 100% O₂

While your breathing gas is also your compression source, you can't win.

Mechanical counterpressure (MCP) breaks out of the tradeoff. You don’t actually need a gas bubble around the whole body; you just need adequate pressure on tissues and breathing gas at the mucous membranes. As long as pressure and breathing gas are adequate, the body doesn't care where they come from. This was demonstrated by Webb and Annis' Space Activity Suit (SAS), and recently, by us.

By decoupling breathing from compression, you get all sorts of benefits. They can be summarized by saying that spacesuits would work how the movies would lead you to believe.

Our mechanical counterpressure layer applies the required compression load without fighting mobility:

• 3D scans allow for a perfect per-astronaut fit, so pressure lands exactly where it's needed
• Low-elasticity, directionally tuned textile that is flexible, inelastic where needed (such as the hoop around a limb), and extendable where it's needed