Spacelife Jacket Will Send Your Money out of This World

Posted on 16/12/2014 by Lambert Varias

A new Dutch clothing company called Spacelife is launching with a big bang. Its first product is a limited edition jacket inspired by the classic spacesuit. Sadly, as far as my budget is concerned getting it will launch me to a planet called Bankruptcy. And it doesn’t even have a gold visor.

True to its theme (and price), the Spacelife jacket is packed with cutting edge features. It’s made of a lightweight, water-repellent and reflective fabric called 210D trilobal nylon oxford. It’s hood is coated with thousands of tiny glass beads that refract light. It also has a Bluetooth speaker and microphone, with playback controls on its sleeve. It also has large patches of an imaginary mission to Mars and a valve-like attachment in front.

If your money is ready for liftoff, head to Spacelife and order the jacket for €1499 (approx. $1900 (USD)).

[via Slash Gear]

NASA’s New Z-2 Spacesuit Is The Weirdest Spacesuit Ever

Posted on 12/05/2014 by Federico Lo Giudice

In anticipation of the first manned expedition to Mars, NASA has been working on some new spacesuit ideas, out of which the Z-2 is particularly interesting.

What you see in the picture is the spacesuit known as the Z-2: it’s a next-gen one piece with some amazing features like allowing astronauts to slide from a pressurized vehicle into the suit by removing the life support system and the hatch cover. The Z-2 improves over the Z-1 by adding a hard torso for extra resistance, and better ergonomic shapes on the shoulders and hips.

What makes this suit really cool, though, is the crazy TRON-style lighting, which was voted by the public as the best exterior for the suit. It’s meant to provide extra visibility, but the whole thing makes it look sort of like Buzz Lightyear.

Source: Geekosystem

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Google Acquires Drone Maker Titan Aerospace and Valkyrie, NASA’s Latest Superhero Robot Has an Iron Man Vibe.

Smithsonian X-rays space suits, shows Savile Row’s got nothin’ on NASA

Posted on 22/08/2013 by Timothy J. Seppala

Give a national museum a 3D scanner and it'll archive its entire collection. Give it an X-ray machine though, and it'll show you the innards of a space suit. As part of its Suited for Space exhibit, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum ran a series of astronauts' work-wear through a CT scanner. The results (above and below) are more than a little haunting, with all manner of hidden buckles, straps and sensors exposed against ghostly transparent fabrics. Why X-rays? Because according to Wired, the Smithsonian wanted to see how the suits were put together, but deconstructing them without damage wasn't exactly feasible. Seeing the level of detail required to keep our spacewalkers safe on the job via online pictures is one thing, but scoping it out in person is likely much cooler. If you want an up-close look for yourself, you have until December 1st to make the trip to Washington, D.C.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Via: The Verge

Source: Wired, Smithsonian

NASA Z-1 Spacesuit Testing Completed: To Infinity and Beyond!

Posted on 20/12/2012 by Shane McGlaun

If you are a space geek, you might remember last summer when we mentioned that NASA was testing out a prototype spacesuit that looked a lot like Buzz Lightyear’s outfit. The spacesuit has a large dome, humped back, and fluorescent green accents. It also reminds me more than a little of a Big Daddy from BioShock. If only it had a giant drill for a hand.

z1 nasa

NASA has now announced that it has completed testing on the prototype spacesuit and the space agency is expected to transition to testing the next version, the Z-2 soon. NASA hopes to have the Z-3 version of its new suit working with astronauts on the ISS by 2017. The Z-1 has ball bearing joints giving astronauts a much greater freedom of movement than existing spacesuits offer.

The key feature you have likely noticed is the large oval-shaped port on the back of the suit. That large port makes it much easier and quicker for astronauts to get into and out of the spacesuit. The coolest thing about it is that the port also allows astronauts to dock their spacesuits directly to the outside of spacecraft eliminating the need for an airlock.

[via Tested]

Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner’s historic jump from the edge of space

Posted on 05/10/2012 by James Trew

BASE jumping might just be about to enter the mainstream. What has typically been considered a fringe activity, reserved for thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies, could soon be firmly cemented in the public view. For the uninitiated, BASE jumping is like skydiving, without the plane. Participants throw themselves off bridges, antennae, buildings, cliffs, and well, whatever high object they can find. It's not illegal, "in theory", but as many of the chosen launch spots are public or private property -- or pose a risk to public safety -- gaining access to, or jumping from them, can mean stepping over the legal line.

This otherwise obstreperous activity has largely kept to itself, occasionally popping up in magazines, or YouTube videos, but -- all going well -- on Monday that changes. Serial boundary pusher (of wing suit across the English Channel fame) Felix Baumgartner is set to leap, in the most literal sense of the word, from relative obscurity into the history books. How? By jumping to earth from the edge of space, likely breaking the sound barrier as he does so. How does one go from humble Austrian beginnings to a capsule 120,000 feet (about 23 miles) above the Earth's surface? Make a comparatively tiny leap past the break to find out.

Continue reading Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space

Filed under: Science, Alt

Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA Designing a New Spacesuit, Astronauts to Look Like Buzz Lightyear?

Posted on 30/07/2012 by Conner Flynn

NASA is trying to bring it’s equipment into the 21st century and that includes updating its spacesuits. Scientists and engineers at NASA have been working to develop the new prototype called the Z-1. This is the new spacesuit that is being developed to replace the twenty-year old model that was first put into service in 1992. Is it just me or does this look like Buzz Lightyear’s suit?

new nasa spacesuit
Right now it is undergoing heavy testing. The Z-1 prototype spacesuit and portable life support system has its own airlock. With this new design, an astronaut crawls into the suit from the back, near the top. This is done through an airtight hatch that can latch on to a docking terminal or other vehicle such as a smaller spacecraft or rover unit. This design of course has many possibilities that the previous suits didn’t have. It is also more flexible and cuts down the amount of oxygen that an astronaut uses while in the suit.

new nasa spacesuit z 1

I’m not sure why they are bothering since we don’t seem to want to send humans anywhere in space other than space stations, but hey, at least we have new suits if we change our minds. You can find a more detailed image of the Z-1 spacesuitover at Popular Mechanics.

[via Gizmag via Geek]

Nike and Tom Sachs reach for the stars, create NikeCraft sportswear with space-grade materials

Posted on 18/05/2012 by Joe Pollicino

Just because you're not an astronaut, it doesn't mean you can't dress yourself in clothes that are out of this world. Artist Tom Sachs recently teamed up with Nike to create a limited edition lineup of spacey sports clothing, dubbed NikeCraft, to coincide with his current Space Program project -- a rendition of a four week trip to Mars. The company highlights that the roster was made with "materials that have never been used in sportswear," some of which has already made its way onto NASA's equipment for space-travel. As ecouterre points out, among what's on offer, you'll find bags made from the Ortho fabric used on the outside of spacesuits to the Mars Yard shoe with Vectran fiber -- the same stuff from the airbags of the Mars Excursion Rover. There's nary a detail about pricing, but the goods will be available at various boutiques around the world and at Space Program: Mars while it's open until Jun 17th inside of New York City's Park Avenue Armory. Hit up the links below to gaze at all the details.

Just because you're not an astronaut doesn't mean that you can't dress yourself in clothes that are out of this world. Artist Tom Sachs recently teamed up with Nike to create a limited edition lineup of of spacey sports clothing, dubbed NikeCraft, to coincide with his current Space Program project -- a rendition of a four week trip to Mars. As ecouterre notes, the highlight of the pieces is that they're all manufactured (partially, at least) with materials used by NASA in its own equipment. Among what's on offer, you'll find bags made from the Ortho fabric used on the outside of spacesuits to the Mars Yard shoes with Vectran fabric -- the same stuff from the airbags of the Mars Excursion Rover. There's nary a detail about pricing, but the goods will be available at various boutiques around the world and at Space Program: Mars while it's open until Jun 17th inside of New York City's Park Avenue Armory. You'll find more details

Nike and Tom Sachs reach for the stars, create NikeCraft sportswear with space-grade materials originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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