Yes, they need to do this in house, just like the IVA, although freefall, Mars and Moon might have different designs and features. Another goal is to make EVA as rare as possible through more use of teleoperated robotics.
Truly extraordinary. I didn't realize SpaceX was attempting to develop an "omni-suit." Seems like an incredible engineering challenge, possibly more challenging than Starship itself.
Suits are tough because lives directly depend on them functioning at 100% all of the time. It could be argued Starship challenge is equal or even greater, stainless steel is heavy, which means engines must generate incredibly high thrust to compensate. Add to which booster reuse is extremely hard to accomplish, despite SpaceX making it look easy. Second stage reuse promises an order of magnitude greater difficulty still, due to energies involved recovering from orbital velocity. To be honest, the level of technical difficulty presented by Starship would make most engineers cry in their sleep, but I'm sure SpaceX will get there eventually.
My understanding is that the properties of stainless steel allowed it to be thinner/lighter than carbon fiber. Certainly not an easy challenge, but I imagine the mass advantage of that switch, combined with the relative ease of working with steel as opposed to carbon fiber, was somewhat of a relief for engineers.
Initial assessment prefered stainless steel to carbon fiber, unfortunately Starship experienced some mass growth due to additional reinforcement required, such as stringers, hoops and seam strengthening loops. Does make for one tough launch vehicle.
Yes, they need to do this in house, just like the IVA, although freefall, Mars and Moon might have different designs and features. Another goal is to make EVA as rare as possible through more use of teleoperated robotics.
Truly extraordinary. I didn't realize SpaceX was attempting to develop an "omni-suit." Seems like an incredible engineering challenge, possibly more challenging than Starship itself.
Suits are tough because lives directly depend on them functioning at 100% all of the time. It could be argued Starship challenge is equal or even greater, stainless steel is heavy, which means engines must generate incredibly high thrust to compensate. Add to which booster reuse is extremely hard to accomplish, despite SpaceX making it look easy. Second stage reuse promises an order of magnitude greater difficulty still, due to energies involved recovering from orbital velocity. To be honest, the level of technical difficulty presented by Starship would make most engineers cry in their sleep, but I'm sure SpaceX will get there eventually.
My understanding is that the properties of stainless steel allowed it to be thinner/lighter than carbon fiber. Certainly not an easy challenge, but I imagine the mass advantage of that switch, combined with the relative ease of working with steel as opposed to carbon fiber, was somewhat of a relief for engineers.
Initial assessment prefered stainless steel to carbon fiber, unfortunately Starship experienced some mass growth due to additional reinforcement required, such as stringers, hoops and seam strengthening loops. Does make for one tough launch vehicle.