Mars Suit Outer Garment Fabric?

(Chris Vancil) wrote in message . com...
(Harmon Everett) wrote in message . com...
Seriously. Whatever it starts out as, after a couple months, it will
end up covered/patched with duct tape. Don't you think so? :-)
Harmon

No. If the outer garment is designed right duct tape should be the
last thing you put on it. It is just as easy to have heavy duty knee
pads and patches.

Cuts and tears will appear in unexpected places. When one is down to
the last few outer garments (OGs), you can bet that duct tape will be
applied to salvage discarded OGs. It may be wise to include peel-off,
replacable, transparent covers for helmet visors, windows, and solar
panels. In fact, I'd like to see a transparent, inflatable (low
pressure), disposable dome erected around the entire base or at least
the return vehicle. This would provide a first line of defense
against dust.

(MSu1049321) wrote in message ...
So maybe the semi-hard suit is a better deal?

Exactly what is a semi-hard suit? A hybrid like the current EMU?
What makes this more desirable than a lighter massing more flexible
suit soft suit like the I-Suit? The whole point of having a TMG would
be to provide a barrier to dust.

-Chris Vancil

On 23 Jul 2003 07:11:12 -0700, (Chris Vancil)
wrote:

(MSu1049321) wrote in message ...
So maybe the semi-hard suit is a better deal?

Exactly what is a semi-hard suit? A hybrid like the current EMU?
What makes this more desirable than a lighter massing more flexible
suit soft suit like the I-Suit? The whole point of having a TMG would
be to provide a barrier to dust.

If the object is to protect the Mars suits joints against Martian
dust, and prevent the dust getting through the weave, then the
solution is to have an outer layer of a PVC material, as PVC is
flexible, has no weave and its pretty tough, and as for being UV
proof, look at how long plastic bags last here on Earth.

A PVC layer would be like the human skin which also protects our
joints its also flexable and is impervious to dust, plus a PVC outer
layer can also be washed clean of dust, as PVC is also none water
permable, and as its not ment to breath no sweat induced problems
occur as the Mars suit.inner perssure bladder and life support deals
with persperation ect.




Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Only those who risk going too far,
can know how far they can go."
T.S. Elliot

If there is such a high concentration of iron oxide in AMrs dust, perhaps it
can be repelled with a static charge? or active magnetic repulsion? Imagine,
flick a switch, the dust "explodes" off the suit and settles out, instant
clean...;-)

(MSu1049321) wrote in message ...
If there is such a high concentration of iron oxide in AMrs dust, perhaps it
can be repelled with a static charge? or active magnetic repulsion? Imagine,
flick a switch, the dust "explodes" off the suit and settles out, instant
clean...;-)

Actually DART(Dust Accumulation and Removal Test)would study amoung
other things the repulsive cleaning of solar cells...

The Martian atmospheric dust is expected to be charged. The
electrostatic experiment will use a high-voltage solar cell to provide
a potential of about 80 V to a transparent conductor on the front
surface of the solar cell cover-glass. It will test three
configurationsa positive potential applied to the cell cover, a
negative potential applied to the cell, and a transverse field applied
across the cellto determine whether electrostatic fields can be used
to mitigate the deposition of dust on solar arrays. These
configurations will be compared with the control cell with no applied
potential.

DART's sensors will provide both scientific information and important
engineering data on the operation of solar power systems on Mars. DART
will measure the dust accumulation rate and the transmitted spectrum
of the dust, and it will image individual settled particles to
determine the size distribution and the particle shape, as well as
gather information on electrostatic properties. DART was developed to
fly as part of the MIP experiment on the (now postponed) Mars-2001
Surveyor Lander. The flight hardware was designed, built, and
qualified for flight at the NASA Glenn Research Center, and it is
ready to go to Mars.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/RT2000/5000/5410landis.html