Space Suit of the Week

The earth is not a cold dead place, hopefully Mars isn’t either. I have seen a lot of prototype suits for manned exploration of Mars (some of them are pretty funky looking) and above is my favorite. The Austrian Airspace Forum Institute created this slick silver suit and put to the test in the ice tunnels beneath the Kaunertal glacier. Among the many complications of being on Martian soil, temperatures on Mars can drop well below -100 degrees. You can read more about this space suit and the advances they’re making by clicking here.

Alana

P.S. NASA’s new Mars Science Laboratory rover, also known as Curiosity, launched in late November and is scheduled to land on Mars in early August. It’s the Presidential Hummer of rovers. Its primary mission is to assess Mars’ habitability.