Senior Member in our Forums Mlindroo said:
My problem with the space suit above is it violates Martin Bower's cardinal rule of SFX design: 'a detail has to look like it's serving a purpose.' In this case, why would an astronaut wear a BLACK space suit?? The external layer of real-life space suits is white since it reflects light (temperatures on the lunar day side may reach 120 degrees centigrade / 250 degrees Fahrenheit so good thermal protection is essential). On the other hand, the bright orange suits of Space:1999 would also make perfect sense in the permanently shadowed areas at the lunar poles.
Special thanks for starting the thread, but let's explore it in more detail. As mentioned, space suits are white for a myriad of reasons, notably to stand out in front of the black of space and to reflect light/heat. Space suits also have either zero or four red stripes to distinguish one astronaut from the other.
But the latter assumes the astronaut is traveling with just one partner. What if there needed to be something more distinguishable than stripes or the color of a sleeve? What if astronauts were working in more than pairs? Most importantly, what if there needed to be something to distinguish between protagonist from antagonist?
As also noted by mlindroo, space suits are evolving and one day could look something like this:
The below was proposed by Dave Newman at MIT and is dubbed the "Skinsuit."
From Newman's study:
The GLCS is a promising concept to reduce physiological deconditioning (particularly skeletal) on future long duration missions.
It may significantly improve the static and dynamic loading of astronauts to sustained 1 g levels with no power or noise, and minimal volume or mass, while also resisting painful spinal elongation, and providing neuromuscular stimuli.
It may significantly improve the static and dynamic loading of astronauts to sustained 1 g levels with no power or noise, and minimal volume or mass, while also resisting painful spinal elongation, and providing neuromuscular stimuli.
While we can't divulge the the details on the suits as of yet, we can tell you that functionality hasn't been compromised for style. The main advantages of a white space suit exist in environments we are familiar with TODAY and are compensating for elements we can not control, but imagine if we were able to better control elements like thermal activity and were exploring environments that didn't have a "black back-drop." Having a darker suit or one with the ability to change colors could have a completely different set of advantages we've never seen before.
Consider also the material used to make the suit might REQUIRE it to be black...
Hypothetically, as we saw yesterday, aviation should invariably be different come 2099, is it radical to assume the space suit wouldn't be different as well?
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