Motherboard

If astronauts are ever going to have any hope of exploring Mars, they’re going to need more than just a good ride. They’re going to need a fly outfit. Forget that sumo thing — it’s just too darn clunky and heavy to allow much rock-collecting and rover-driving (not to mention hover-boarding and other future extreme sports). And who wants to make their first Martian impression looking like Missy Eliot? We can’t have other worlds thinking we’re all fatties, now can we.

But it’s with an eye towards function, not fashion, that MIT aeronautics engineer Dava Newman, featured in this episode of Nova ScienceNOW’s Secret Life of Scientists, has spent over a decade developing a successor to NASA’s space suit, that puffy relic of the early space program. It just so happens that flexibility and style go hand in pressurized-glove hand: her BioSuit, is stretchy where it needs to be, while laced in a “skeleton” of black lines that stay firm, corresponding to lines on the skin that don’t move much when you move your leg or sashay into a crater.

The idea for a “space activity suit,” born in the 1960s — and referencing ‘60s sci-fi, not to mention the imaginary of anime masters like Yoshiyuki Tomino — does away with the self-contained pressurized atmosphere of today’s outfits in exchange for mechanical counter-pressure, which basically squeezes the body to keep tissues from expanding and blood cells from congealing (ie, a red sandy death). On top of Spidey-like flexibility, Newman’s BioSuit can better withstand the much-feared tear: where a rip in a traditional spacesuit means a quick return to home base, a puncture in the BioSuit can be wrapped with something like an Ace bandage, while the rest of the suit remains unaffected.

Designed in part with the help of Italy’s Dainese, which specializes in motorcyclist gear, the outer layer could be a mix of recyclable polymers, like nylon and spandex, which help to make the whole thing possibly a tenth of the US $20 million price tag of one of today’s space fashions. To keep the thing super tight, an inner layer could be sprayed onto the body, and wearable computers, smart gels and conductive materials could be embedded between the polymer layers.

Before the suit is ready for exploration, perhaps within a decade, there are some hitches to work out. Using their 3D models created with laser scans of the body in motion, her MIT team is still working on the legs and arms. Ultimately, the BioSuit may likely rely on some traditional elements, like a gas-pressured torso section and helmet and the obligatory oxygen supply.

But with its form-fit styling, which splits the difference between anime chic and Bowie-cool, the suit could finally make astronauts look like the sexy beasts that they are. And that look, Dava says, holds a certain, crucial cache among girls. "A lot of young girls are completely turned on by the design of the Bio-Suit. And they come up to me when I give talks at schools, and they think it’s pretty neat that it might be a spacesuit for a female astronaut. And oh, by the way, they think they might want to be an astronaut.” In other words, this suit promises a longer, more agile step for man and woman, and maybe a giant leap too.

After checking out the video above, send Dava your questions.