MIT engineering the next generation of space-wear

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) MIT researchers are engineering the next generation of space-wear: a skin-tight pressurized suit fit for awesome planetary exploration.

Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, and her colleagues are one step closer to making the space suit a reality. The researchers have engineered active compression garments that have small, springlike coils that contract in response to heat. The coils are made from an alloy that "remembers" a certain shape and springs back to that shape when heated, even after being bent or deformed.

Sort of like a space suit that shrink-wraps to your body.

The coil design, an idea conceived by Bradley Holschuh, could be used in more than just space suits. Researchers say the design could also possibly be used in athletic wear or military uniforms -- possibly even as a built-in tourniquet system in the case of injury.

The research, funded by NASA and the MIT Portugal Program, is on-going, as the MIT team strives to create an innovative suit to enhance human performance.

Cox Media Group