Mars is unlikely to ever be at the top of the list of the most popular tourist destinations. Undoubtedly, the highest mountain in the Solar System, the extinct volcano Olympus, will appeal to a couple of amateurs. But in general, Mars is not the most pleasant place to relax.
There is a very inhospitable landscape: canyons, volcanoes, craters and dried up lakes. The atmosphere on the planet is sparse and consists mainly of carbon dioxide. Mars has neither a protective magnetosphere, nor a Van Allen radiation belt that would cover the surface of the planet and everyone on it from cosmic rays and solar radiation. And the temperature even at the equator can vary from +21 °С in summer day to -73 °С at night.
In addition, brave tourists will have to withstand intense dust storms - just like Matt Damon at the beginning of "Martianina". These storms may cover an area of the entire continent and will not stop for weeks.
A logical question arises: what to wear?
Abigail Harrison thinks a lot about it. On Earth, the girl prefers to wear bold and bright outfits. But at any moment she is ready to exchange them for a Martian suit. From the very childhood Harrison dreams of only one thing: to become not just an astronaut, but the first person to step on the red planet.
Today, her dream is closer than ever to fulfillment. Abigail is completing her first year at Wellsley College, where she is studying astrobiology and Russian at the same time. She is also an active member of the space community. "Astronaut Abby, as Harrison is often called, runs The Mars Generation, a non-profit organization that encourages the teaching of exact sciences (STEM), trains "space ambassadors", and provides scholarship programs to study at the Space Camp run by the U.S. non-profit Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
More importantly, Harrison has started a new "space race" with government and commercial enterprises. As a result of this competition, the first manned flight to Mars could take place in 2030 (according to NASA), or even earlier, in mid-2020, according to SpaceX CEO Ilon Mask.
That's why on board the still unnamed Mars rover "Mars-2020", the heir of Curiosity, which will begin work in two years, will be Teflon, polycarbonates and polyurethanes. Having studied these samples and compared them with the results of tests carried out on Earth, Ross and her team will be able to find out how long the suit will last - and this must be done before the astronaut will be in a situation where his life will depend on the suit.
"We need to take into account the peculiarities of Mars' environment - dusty, chemically active and exposed to ultraviolet radiation," she adds.
It is vital that the human body is exposed to atmospheric pressure within known limits. If the pressure is too high, as in the deepest parts of the ocean, the astronaut's internal organs will squeeze like empty soda cans. Excessively low pressure, either at high altitudes or in space, will cause liquids inside the body to boil. To prevent such situations, NASA fills its spacesuits with compressed gas. It's a kind of human-shaped airplane.
According to former deputy head of NASA Dawa Newman, professor of aeronautics and cosmonautics at MIT, the disadvantage of this method of internal pressure support is that the spacesuits eventually look like hard balloons, and you feel like a man with the Michelin logo in them. They make it difficult to move, and the astronaut in them quickly tires.
For astronauts doing space repair work, hard gloves will cause many difficulties," Newman wrote in the January 2012 issue of ASK magazine. - Imagine having to work with tools and spin small parts for a few hours. And all this with gas-filled gloves that keep your fingers off.
With the help of memory alloys, Newman managed to create a tight-fitting elastic suit, in which the mechanical pressure is directly on the skin. It is called Biosuit (biosuit): it is similar to a catwoman costume and its seams hide a complex network of wires and springs. When electric current is supplied, the springs are compressed and the suit sits perfectly on the figure of the astronaut, maintaining optimum pressure. Cooling the springs weakens the grip of the suit: in this state it is convenient to remove and put on.
Newman's suit still has some flaws to work on. For example, it is not yet clear how to introduce a life support system that would supply oxygen, regulate the temperature, satisfy other needs, and at the same time would not take up much space. Perhaps a modular system should be used that would allow astronauts to carry only the equipment needed for the task at hand.
"Suitcases are complex mechanisms and works of art. X-rays show that the inner structure of a suit looks like a Goldberg machine - so intricate and confusing.
"There's nothing more exciting in the world than space exploration," Newman said then. - And heroic suits will not let the spiritual connection with the Earth weaken.
Michael Lai, professor of industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design, understands the balance of form and function better than others. Lai and his students have designed a full-size model of a space suit that "crew members" can wear during off-board missions on Mars.
"Functionality is definitely important, but at the same time nothing should be deprived of beauty," says the scientist. Not to mention the fact that long before the first steps on the moon, people explored the stars in rubber suits and helmets, similar to aquariums, on the covers of low-quality books and magazines.
"It's worth seeing something that defines the vision of the future, and I think beauty also plays a role. It's much easier to catch a person with an idea if they find it interesting and exciting than if it's the other way around.
Lewis likes to remind people that Russell Colley, the creator of the high-altitude compensatory costume, which allowed the pilot Wiley Post to reach previously impossible heights, initially studied to be a designer, "so that he had an eye on him. (Colly later took part in the development of the Mercury spacesuits. In the obituary of 1996 The New York Times called it "Kelvin Klein from Space".)
Although spacesuits are designed primarily to perform their function, designers have some freedom of choice. Therefore, the spacesuits of Russian cosmonauts are so different from those of NASA and the European Space Agency. "It's all about the designer's vision," explains Lewis.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Biosuit from Dawa Newman is similar to the vestments of the Avengers. For an engineer and designer, aesthetics is "the most important component of the work," Newman told Wired magazine in 2014.
"The whole world is excited about the news of space, so when these shiny, breathtaking suits appear, people pay all their attention to them. This takes ordinary people's empathy to a new level, and I hope everyone will be happy to support space exploration.
Who knows - maybe in the near future we'll see Abigail Harrison walking around Mars in a suit, lifting up red dust clubs, which will inspire a generation to follow in her footsteps. By then they'll know exactly what to wear when they're going to dream work.