The full article appears in issue 25 of Cloud – the in-flight magazine of private jet firm Air Charter Service. The online version can be found here.
Have spacesuit, will travel: The evolution of the spacesuit
Tag / NASA
Space base: 20 years of life on the ISS
Two decades ago, on November 1, 2000, three humans left Earth for a new life in space. Since Then the International Space Station has been home to a rotating international crew of six astronauts. Metro finds out how they’ve survived
The ISS is the biggest human-made structure in space, measuring 358ft in length, which is about as long as a football pitch. A collaboration between Nasa, Russia’s Roscosmos, Japan’s Jaxa, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), the ISS essentially acts as a unique orbiting laboratory where astronauts test out new technologies and carry out scientific experiments in microgravity.
Around 250 to 300 scientific investigations are carried out at any given time and help prepare for future space missions — as well as helping us. For example, the first UK-led experiment on the ISS recently studied a horde of worms to test the effect of muscle loss in space. That could also help us to understand muscle loss in old age….
The full article appeared in the 30 October 2020 issue of Metro and can also be viewed in the e-edition.
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How Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit was saved using 3D scanning
Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
The historic garment was painstakingly restored using light scanning and 3D mapping ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission launch
On 16 July 1969, three men flew to the moon. Their spacesuits have since been kept at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, but nothing lasts forever. The suit Neil Armstrong was wearing when he became the first man on the Moon hasn’t been on display for 13 years – until the museum decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign in July 2015. Dubbed ‘Reboot the Suit,’ it has 9,477 backers and has managed to raise more than $700,000 (around £539,000).
On 16 July this year, exactly 50 years after the flight, freshly restored Armsrtrong’s suit will go back on public display. First on temporary display, it’ll later become the centrepiece of the museum’s upcoming Destination Moon exhibition, slated for launch in 2022.
Armstrong’s historic garment is among the most fragile items in the museum’s collection. So how did the Smithsonian go about preserving it for future generations?
You can read the full article at Wired UK (originally published 8 July 2019).
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Mission to the Moon: The legacy of the Apollo missions
The full article appears in issue 17 of Cloud – the in-flight magazine of private jet firm Air Charter Service. The online version can be found here.
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Exploring space using virtual reality
The full article appears in All About Space issue 66 (originally published on 26 June 2017). Free preview: ow.ly/1eQm30cNF9p
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Cool coding just for kids
Pioneering Nasa scientist Katherine Johnson celebrated in Lego
If nerds are the new rock stars, it’s time to get kids techy
Tech innovation depends on brainpower. That’s why encouraging children to study STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is vital. And the good news is there’s help at hand. Lego has just launched its Boost sets, which incorporate app-based coding — allowing kids to bring their creations to life.
Aimed at children aged seven and older, the kits enable youngsters to build projects including Vernie The Robot and the Guitar 4000, while learning about how the built-in motors and sensors work. They can even add personality to their creations using voice recordings.
The Danish toymaker is also working on a Women Of Nasa set. Designed to mark the accomplishments of women and people of colour in space (and hopefully encourage their successors) it has just been given the green light to go into production…
You can read the full article in Metro (originally published 10 March 2017).
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Space tech spinoffs: how space innovations help us back on Earth
How VR and AR could turn you into a bona fide space explorer
Mainstream virtual reality is still in its infancy but it’s been tackling the final frontier – space – for years. Now the latest hardware, such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR headsets, combined with sophisticated 360-degree filming techniques, is finally bringing space exploration to the masses.
VR’s ability to produce large-scale 3D environments not only offers armchair astronauts a glimpse of what life is like in space, it is now also more helpful than ever at aiding real-life astronauts in their jobs both on Earth and out there.
What’s more, augmented reality can offer spacemen and women a new perspective by merging the worlds of Earth and space. Compared to VR, though, augmented reality still has some way to go before we start to see smartglasses and AR helmets both on our faces and in our homes.
Training astronauts
While virtual reality has been relatively slow to catch on in the mainstream, NASA has been using it for more than 25 years because it’s simply one of the best ways to replicate space while remaining safely on home soil.
“Simulated environments have always been important in astronaut training,” explains Jason Crusan, director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division.
The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronaut crews all spent at least one third of their training time in simulators and contemporary crews use VR simulations to train for tasks on the International Space Station (ISS).
Early NASA headsets were improvised affairs – the first prototype of the Virtual Environment Workstation headset was built from a motorcycle helmet – and the American space agency has continued to update the tech involved. Astronauts now use NASA’s Virtual Reality Lab (VRL), located at the Johnson Space Center, to train for missions aboard the ISS. Using a headset, real-time graphics and motion simulators, astronauts train to carry out tasks during microgravity spacewalks.
A vital part of the training involves using their powered jetpack – the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) – which carries very limited fuel, to navigate their way back to the ISS should they get stranded in space.
The ability to recreate a life-size 3D environment makes VR ideal for astronaut training and now NASA is looking at using augmented reality to keep reality in the frame.
You can read the full article at Wareable (originally published 20 April 2016).
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The great British take-off: Tim Peake and home-grown space tech look to the future
The wearables from NASA that made it back to Earth
What has spaceflight ever done for us? A hell of a lot, actually – and aside from trying to get humans to Mars, NASA’s technology has trickled down to a host of wearable gadgets.
NASA makes a huge investment in technology and each year it releases a report called Spinoff. This details all of the innovations that have been developed as a result of space travel, from Sony’s latest ‘magnetic fluid’ speakers to more realistic 3D mapping in video games like SSX.
NASA estimates that over the last decade or so, its spinoff innovations have saved 449,850 lives, created 18,888 jobs and created $5.2 billion of revenue.
From healthcare to aviation, sports and product manufacturing, the benefits of spaceflight have filtered down into almost every aspect of our lives, and there are several pieces of wearable kit that have been developed as a result of space exploration. Here are some of the best so far…
Zephyr Bioharness
NASA was in need of a gadget with real-time sensors for astronauts to track their own physiological symptoms in order to prevent vomiting caused by microgravity.
Step forward Maryland-based Zephyr Technology which developed a product for the space programme, while also giving it the opportunity to improve its own technology. The Bioharness is now used for tracking health and fitness by the US military, firefighters and several pro sports teams in the NBA, NHL and NLB as well as numerous college teams.
Jockey Staycool
Famous US underwear maker Jockey’s Staycool range was created using the ‘phase change materials’ that NASA developed for astronauts’ space gloves. The special material is designed to maintain a suitable temperature for optimum comfort. Basically, space pants.
Jasper Systems compression wear
NASA’s Ames Research Centre originally developed liquid-cooled garments to keep astronauts’ airtight spacesuits from becoming hot and humid. The technology has since been used by California-based Vasper Systems to produce compression garments which are designed for more efficient exercise by concentrating lactic acid buildup in the muscles.
You can read the rest of the article at Wareable (originally published 8 April 2015).
Libby Plummer 