Dissecting Astronauts' "Seamless Clothes"

We often use the idiom of "seamless" to describe things perfectly and naturally, without any flaws and shortcomings. With the rapid development of modern science and technology, the seamless "celestial garment" appears in mythology. It is "space space suit".

The Shenzhou five manned spaceship was launched successfully, and Yang Liwei, the first astronaut to enter space, was wearing such a "sky coat". This conjoined spacesuit is an indoor spacesuit, weighing about 10 kilograms. It is made from a special high strength polyester. Its main color is milky white, with a sky blue border. There is a circular device that can be twisted in the heart of the spacesuit to adjust the pressure, temperature and humidity inside the clothes. There is a thin tube in the right abdomen of the clothes, which is the communication tool of the astronauts. There are two pipes in the left abdomen, which are the equipment for the astronauts to supply oxygen and discharge carbon dioxide.

Cosmos needs "seamless clothes".

We know that the charming cosmic space is a very bad environment for mankind. It is a vacuum world. There is no air for human respiration. There is no atmospheric pressure. The temperature there is also very strange. The hot sun directly irradiate the side, the temperature rises very high, and the cold space temperature is extremely low when there is no sun. In addition, intense cosmic radiation and flying meteorites are also a great threat to astronauts. Once the astronauts leave the spacecraft, the astronaut is outside a vacuum. The spacesuit is in a strong atmospheric pressure. From strength, it can be imagined that it must be very strong, otherwise the outside is a vacuum, and the atmosphere is strong enough to burst, so the strength of the spacesuit clothing is very high. The safety of his life depends entirely on a "seamless" spacesuit. Even if it's just an indoor spacesuit, when considering astronauts flying in the sky, our cockpit, including the re-entry module and the orbital module, are all sealed. The vast space is a vacuum world. The cabin is designed to ensure a strong atmospheric pressure, just like the normal earth. But in case of special circumstances, the cabin is pressed, and the astronauts are always at risk in life, so he must wear spacesuit. For example, in 1971, the Soviet Union spacecraft "alliance 11" completed the experimental mission of space flight. During the process of returning to earth, the astronauts were excited and took off the heavy spacesuit in advance. However, it did not occur to us that a sealed valve in the re-entry module failed, and in a flash, the air leak in the spaceship cabin was empty, and the astronauts died of suffocation in the vacuum. A tragedy in space history.

In addition, this garment should ensure the normal life of the astronauts, so there must be oxygen and nitrogen pipes in the spacesuit, so that the astronauts can breathe normally and remove the moisture. "Seamless clothing" is a complex system that integrates safety life and communication requirements. At the same time, it has flexible activities to complete the mission of space exploration.




A layer of defenseless "seamless clothes"

The spacesuit, "outer space jacket" or "underwear", must be strictly conformed to such requirements: first of all, good thermal insulation performance, no matter in high temperature or low temperature environment, can make astronauts maintain a constant temperature and comfortable environment; second, the sealing ability is better; in space suits, it needs inflatable pressurization to maintain an atmosphere of high atmospheric pressure; third, it requires the ability to withstand cosmic ray radiation and withstand the attack of tiny meteorites; finally, it is also flexible and lightweight, so as to facilitate the astronauts to walk. In addition to these, it also requires fire prevention, bulging, deformation prevention, and appearance.

Do you know? A lunar spacesuit has 15 floors. It can be described as "layer upon layer defense", which is the "seamless" of modern technology. In terms of performance, there are 5 main lines of Defense:

The first one is the underwear layer, which is light, soft, and flexible. It can heat transfer and breathe. Here is a wonderful belt, which contains a complex micro monitoring system, which is responsible for recording all kinds of data on Physiology (heart rate, body temperature, breathing), as well as the temperature inside the spacesuit, and the radiation dose data as a dynamic monitoring of astronauts.

The second way is the thermostat, which uses the new technology, "heat pipe liquid tempering". There are lots of PVC tubes in this layer. There is a liquid in the tube. The flow of the liquid can adjust the temperature of the spacesuit, and the efficiency is very high. There are three levels of temperature to choose from, controlled by the astronauts themselves.

The third way is a pressurized layer, a sealed inflatable layer made of special rubber, which is filled with an atmosphere of high atmospheric pressure, because the low pressure must be prevented in the vacuum of the universe.

The fourth way is the constraint layer, which has two functions, which restrict the third layers into the appearance of the garment, and help the outer layer resist the attack of the tiny meteorites. It also has excellent thermal insulation to prevent heat exchange between inside and outside.

The fifth is the protective layer, which uses high strength "bullet proof clothes" made of special synthetic fibers to resist the attack of tiny meteorites flying like bombs and to absorb the energy of cosmic rays. In developing spacesuit with "no sewing", scientists and technicians spend a lot of energy on testing new materials and selecting suitable materials. Finally, the lunar spacesuit was successfully made, with a transparent helmet and a backpack of more than 100 kilograms.

This "backpack" is important. It is a complete and lightweight life support system. Life support devices on the back include oxygen cylinders, water tanks, ventilation devices, pumps and filters, a regulator for adjusting the air and cooling water temperature, and a set of highly efficient silver zinc batteries. Oxygen is used for ventilation and air pressure in space suits. At the lower end of the "backpack" is a spare oxygen bag and two spherical oxygen tanks (when the main device fails, it can provide 30 minutes of oxygen). The upper part of the "backpack" is a radio equipment with antenna, which can maintain contact with the ground. Astronauts control and regulate life support devices through the chest controller, which is as simple as pressing the shutter.

You see, such a complex space spacesuit is completely isolated from the outside world. It must be absolutely seamless. If there is a gap, it will directly threaten the safety of astronauts.




The most expensive and heaviest "seamless clothes"

The world's earliest lunar spacesuit, which was made of the most advanced technology and the most excellent material at that time, is the most expensive garment in the world (its appearance is also coated with a layer of gold, reflecting the various radiations), which cost up to 1 million dollars. The figures would be even more surprising if the test fees were added.

It is still the heaviest garment in the world, reaching more than 100 kilograms. If you put it on the earth, you will be unable to walk. But on the moon, its weight is only about 20 kilograms, because the gravity of the moon is much smaller than that of the earth, only 1/6 on the earth. On the moon, the astronauts themselves weigh only 1/6 on the earth, so astronauts can easily jump forward on the moon.

With the gradual implementation of the space program, from the first human spacewalk in 1964 to the first step of the US astronauts on the moon in 1969, the spacesuit has successfully completed its mission. In the subsequent dozens of space flights, the spacesuit has been continuously improved, the cost has been reduced, and the weight has decreased.

The earliest spacesuit suits were made in advance. According to the height, weight and weight of each astronaut, the expensive spacesuit, which is time-consuming and time-consuming, is only a waste of the museum exhibition. Because of the dozens of times the space shuttle travels to earth and earth, the original customized processing method can not adapt to it.

Now space shuttle astronauts use space spacesuit is not made to order. According to the shape of the human body, the spacesuit is divided into several parts. Each part has several models: from "super" to "special small" in sequence, and then batch production. Each astronaut can get a set of satisfactory "spacesuit" if he chooses the proper parts and recombines them. Moreover, after the use of the spacesuit, it can be carefully decomposed. After cleaning the parts seriously, it can be used again. The service life is more than 15 years.

The production technology of seamless clothing is also related to our daily life. Some new materials can improve the quality of our life, and promote in firefighting clothes, diving suits, gas masks and various sealing technologies.

"Spacesuit" is the crystallization of human wisdom. It has made outstanding contributions to mankind and will also be included in the annals of science and technology.