It is the ultimate in dressing for all conditions. A spacesuit fabric has been developed that can generate electricity from sunlight, detect and fix holes caused by micrometeoroids, kill germs and protect its wearer from radiation.
The multilayered material was developed by a team led by David Cadogan of spacesuit maker ILC Dover in Delaware. Flexible solar cells, made of electrically conductive plastic or silicon-based materials, are sewn into the outer layer to provide the suit with power.
An inner layer of polymer gel encased in thin plastic protects the suit from damage. If a hole less than 2 millimetres across is created, the gel oozes out to fill it. To detect larger holes, the suit is criss-crossed with thin electrical wires attached to microprocessors, which detect any break in the circuit caused by damage and alert the astronaut. Silver-coated layers of polyester shed silver ions to kill bacteria, while layers of polythene absorb radiation to protect astronauts against cosmic rays.
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NASA wants to develop new spacesuits for its return to the moon, says Cadogan, who described the new material at a space conference in Norfolk, Virginia, last week. The fabric, developed for NASA as part of a smart materials programme, could also be used to build an inflatable moon base or space station, he says. 鈥淣ASA has numerous studies going on where inflatable habitats are under consideration.鈥�
The researchers are designing a sample inflatable habitat that they will test at NASA鈥檚 Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
