Sunday, December 30, 2007

Theories of spacesuit design

A space suit should permit its user natural and unencumbered movement. The only way this is achievable is for the space suit to maintain a constant volume no matter what position the wearer is in. This is since mechanical work is needed to change the volume of a constant pressure system. If moving an arm or hand causes a change in the volume of the space suit, then the astronaut has to do additional work every time he bends that joint, and he has to maintain a force to keep the joint bent. Even if this force is very small, it can be critically fatiguing to constantly fight against your suit. It also makes delicate movements very difficult.

All space suit designs try to minimize or do away with this problem. The most general solution is to form the suit out of multiple layers. The bladder layer is a chewy, airtight layer much like a balloon. The moderation layer goes outside the bladder, and provides a specific shape for the suit. Since the bladder layer is bigger than the restraint layer, the restraint takes all of the stresses caused by the pressure of the suit. Since the bladder is not underneath strain, it will not "pop" similar to a balloon, even if punctured. The moderation layer is shaped in such a way that bending a joint will cause pockets of fabric, called gores, to open up on the outside of the joint. This makes up for the volume lost on the surrounded by of the joint, and keeps the suit at a constant volume. However, once the gores are opened all the way, the joint cannot be bent any longer without a considerable amount of work.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Spacesuit requirements

Several things are needed for the spacesuit to function appropriately in space. It must provide:a stable interior pressure. This be able to less than earth's atmosphere, as there is usually no need for the spacesuit to carry nitrogen.
breathable oxygen: Usually a rebreather is used beside with a supply of fresh oxygen.
temperature regulation: Heat can only be missing in space by thermal radiation, or conduction with objects in physical contact with the space suit. Since heat is missing very slowly by radiation, a space suit almost always has only a cooling system and heavy insulation on the hands and possibly feet

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Space Suit

A space suit is a complex system of garments and equipment and environmental systems designed to keep a person alive and at ease in the harsh environment of outer space. This applies to extra-vehicular action outside spacecraft orbiting Earth and has applied to walking, and riding the Lunar Rover, on the Moon.

Some of these requirements also apply to force suits worn by people such as high-altitude fighter pilots who may fly so high that breathing pure oxygen at adjacent pressure would not provide enough oxygen for them to function: see hypoxia.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

General information of sun

The sun as it appears all the way through a camera lens from the surface of Earth. The Sun is confidential as a main sequence star, which means it is in a state of "hydrostatic balance", neither contracting or expanding, and is generating its energy through nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. The Sun has a spectral class of G2V, with the G2 importance that its color is yellow and its spectrum contains spectral lines of ionized and neutral metals as well as very weak hydrogen lines and the V signifying that it, like most stars, is a "dwarf" star on the main sequence.

The Sun has a predicted main series lifetime of about 10 billion years. Its current age is consideration to be about 4.5 billion years, a figure which is determined using computer models of stellar evolution, and nucleocosmochronology . The Sun orbits the midpoint of the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 25,000 to 28,000 light-years from the galactic centre, completing one revolution in about 226 million years. The orbital speed is 217 km/s, the same to one light year every 1400 years, and one AU every 8 days.