Blog Layout
Longer space missions possible with novel spacesuit technology
Elizabeth Gracie
Denmark's Andreas Mogensen, trials a skinsuit on the ISS in 2015
RMIT University has partnered with Human Aerospace, an Australian company that specialises in the fields of aerospace medicine, bioastronautics, life sciences and aeronautical engineering to help position Australia along with global leaders in compression spacesuit technology.
Professor Rajiv Padhye, Director of RMIT’s Centre for Materials Innovation and Future Fashion, said that his team were eager to apply their knowledge and expertise in compression garment design to the spacesuit project.
“This is an exciting opportunity to show our cross-disciplinary teamwork in design and technology and to partner with the best in the world on designing suits that will have a real impact on people’s health,” said Professor Padhye.
These suits will be the next step to allowing for longer space missions to planets such as Mars which with current rocket propulsion technology, would take nine months to travel there, and nine months to get back.
The health impacts associated with such prolonged missions is a major challenge that engineers, scientists and medical professionals are working together to overcome.
Director and Chief Engineer at Human Aerospace, Dr James Waldie said that the travel alone, notwithstanding scientific exploration of the surface of Mars itself, would take a tremendous toll on the human body.
“Bone loss is a particular challenge - it’s like an extreme version of osteoporosis. Your hip bones could age by 50 years over a Mars mission.
To get around these impacts, astronauts currently use exercise machines for around 2 hours each day while on the spacecraft.
Whilst this is fairly effective in maintaining strength, spacecraft on longer expeditions in future won’t have the same capability to carry these bulky exercise machines, nor the spares necessary for their continued use.
That’s why we’re prototyping a suit that keeps them in shape just by wearing it” said Dr Waldie.
The skin-tight elastic skinsuit inside the spacesuit will mimic the impact of gravity on the body in order to mitigate bone and muscle loss that astronauts can experience in a weightlessness environment. The suits will also help impose Earth-like longitudinal loading on the torso and lower body.
According to Dr Waldie, “Being very light elastic and requiring no power, it allows the astronauts to continue working when in use, so it is well suited to extended space missions”.
The team is also developing spacesuit to be worn by astronauts on spacewalks that will solve the issues relating to gas pressurised suits.
“Existing gas - pressurised suits for spacewalking are amazing personal spaceships, but they are also bulky, heavy, rigid, unsafe, and require high maintenance.
New designs and advancements are critical in this area too and we think elastic skinsuit pressure layers could work well as an alternative or supplement to traditional gas pressurised layers in spacesuits” said Dr Waldie.
According to Dr Waldie, the main challenge will be activating the elastics within the suit to manage to pressure and allow the suits to be put on and take off with ease.
“We will work with our US collaborators in exploring new ways to achieve this activation and enable skinsuits to be a feasible option in the future, providing lighter, safer and more dexterous spacesuits,” said Dr Waldie.
The final suit will surprisingly not be for use in space, but rather to help astronauts adjust to being back on Earth after prolonged exposure to a weightlessness environment.
Similar to G-suits worn by high altitude pilots, the Earth suit will help astronauts stay health as their blood returns to pool in the lower extremities in the body as opposed to how it was equalised across their body when in space.
This will help astronauts avoid orthostatic intolerance which results in fainting as they are not using to their blood reacting to an environment where gravity is prevalent
One of the spacesuits will be designed as a concept only whilst the other two will be fully developed as highly advanced prototypes.
Dr Waldie says that “this type of technology is not only about aiding the health and safety of astronauts, but also in creating medical technologies to help treat the broader population in cases such as burns, lymphedema and Peripheral Vascular Disease”.
Getting asked what we look for in deals is one of the most common questions I get as an investment manager.
The Small Business Association of Australia is dedicated to supporting SMEs, acting as their voice to government and helping them connect, grow, and prosper well into the future.
Sensibles may sound like science fiction, but this revolutionary technology is making waves in aged-care facilities, and has the potential to transform health monitoring at scale.
Alice Springs and the deserts of Central Australia don’t sound like a food basket, but they are for businesswoman and bush foods innovator Rayleen Brown.
A new report aims to lay the foundations for a deeper and more meaningful and equitable relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in the mining transition sector.
If the health and medical research sector in Australia is to move forward, it must address gender equity, diversity, and inclusion- which means making the sector a safe and inclusive workspace for all.
A ground-breaking sheep technology system is bettering the businesses and lives of Australian sheep breeders thanks to a revolutionary combination of software, hardware, and support never before combined into one cohesive unit.
ANCA took an early view to look beyond Australia’s shores whilst developing advanced manufacturing technologies now viewed as ‘business as usual’
As Australia grapples with a critical skills shortage, many are now encouraging young people to embrace a career in the trades, where a wealth of opportunities awaits.
In 2016 I published a blog article titled Moonshots for Australia: 7 For Now. It’s one of many I have posted on business and innovation in Australia. In that book, I highlighted a number of Industries of the Future among a number of proposed Moonshots. I self-published a book, Innovation in Australia – Creating prosperity for future generations, in 2019, with a follow-up COVID edition in 2020. There is no doubt COVID is causing massive disruption. Prior to COVID, there was little conversation about National Sovereignty or supply chains. Even now, these topics are fading, and we remain preoccupied with productivity and jobs! My motivation for this writing has been the absence of a coherent narrative for Australia’s business future. Over the past six years, little has changed. The Australian ‘psyche’ regarding our political and business systems is programmed to avoid taking a long-term perspective. The short-term nature of Government (3 to 4-year terms), the short-term horizon of the business system (driven by shareholder value), the media culture (infotainment and ‘gotcha’ games), the general Australian population’s cynical perspective and a preoccupation with a lifestyle all create a malaise of strategic thinking and conversation. Ultimately, it leads to a leadership vacuum at all levels. In recent years we have seen the leadership of some of our significant institutions failing to live up to the most basic standards, with Royal Commissions, Inquiries and investigations consuming excessive time and resources. · Catholic Church and other religious bodies · Trade Unions · Banks (and businesses generally, take casinos, for example) · the Australian Defence Force · the Australian cricket teams · our elected representatives and the staff of Parliament House As they say, “A fish rots from the head!” At best, the leadership behaviour in those institutions could be described as unethical and, at worst….just bankrupt! In the last decade, politicians have led us through a game of “leadership by musical chairs” – although, for now, it has stabilised. However, there is still an absence of a coherent narrative about business and wealth creation. It is a challenge. One attempt to provide such a narrative has been the Intergenerational Reports produced by our federal Government every few years since 2002. The shortcomings of the latest Intergenerational Report Each Intergenerational Report examines the long-term sustainability of current government policies and how demographic, technological, and other structural trends may affect the economy and the budget over the next 40 years. The fifth and most recent Intergenerational Report released in 2021 (preceded by Reports in 2002, 2007, 2010 and 2015) provides a narrative about Australia’s future – in essence, it is an extension of the status quo. The Report also highlights three key insights: 1. First, our population is growing slower and ageing faster than expected. 2. The Australian economy will continue to grow, but slower than previously thought. 3. While Australia’s debt is sustainable and low by international standards, the ageing of our population will pressure revenue and expenditure. However, its release came and went with a whimper. The recent Summit on (what was it, Jobs and Skills and productivity?) also seems to have made the difference of a ‘snowflake’ in hell in terms of identifying our long-term challenges and growth industries. Let’s look back to see how we got here and what we can learn. Australia over the last 40 years During Australia’s last period of significant economic reform (the late 1980s and early 1990s), there was a positive attempt at building an inclusive national narrative between Government and business. Multiple documents were published, including: · Australia Reconstructed (1987) – ACTU · Enterprise Bargaining a Better Way of Working (1989) – Business Council of Australia · Innovation in Australia (1991) – Boston Consulting Group · Australia 2010: Creating the Future Australia (1993) – Business Council of Australia · and others. There were workshops, consultations with industry leaders, and conferences across industries to pursue a national microeconomic reform agenda. Remember these concepts? · global competitiveness · benchmarking · best practice · award restructuring and enterprising bargaining · training, management education and multiskilling. This agenda was at the heart of the business conversation. During that time, the Government encouraged high levels of engagement with stakeholders. As a result, I worked with a small group of training professionals to contribute to the debate. Our contribution included events and publications over several years, including What Dawkins, Kelty and Howard All Agree On – Human Resources Strategies for Our Nation (published by the Australian Institute of Training and Development). Unfortunately, these long-term strategic discussions are nowhere near as prevalent among Government and industry today. The 1980s and 1990s were a time of radical change in Australia. It included: · floating the $A · deregulation · award restructuring · lowering/abolishing tariffs · Corporatisation and Commercialisation Ross Garnaut posits that the reforms enabled Australia to lead the developed world in productivity growth – given that it had spent most of the 20th century at the bottom of the developed country league table. However, in his work, The Great Reset, Garnaut says that over the next 20 years, our growth was attributable to the China mining boom, and from there, we settled into “The DOG days” – Australia moved to the back of a slow-moving pack! One unintended consequence of opening our economy to the world is the emasculation of the Australian manufacturing base. The manic pursuit of increased efficiency, lower costs, and shareholder value meant much of the labour-intensive work was outsourced. Manufacturing is now less than 6% of our GDP , less than half of what it was 30 years ago!
