Space Suits Fukushima

(Hope this post is in the right place.)

So I was wondering, what with all this radiation coming from Fukishima and the workers walking into certain death, why the hell didn't Nasa donate a couple of space suits to Japan ?

Am I naive in thinking that Nasa space suits were designed to protect the Astronouts from the radiation in space ?

Surely there is more radiation emited by the sun in space than a nuclear power plant ?

I look forward to being educated by ATS members

reply to post by The Djin


Man that's a really good question! I think the suits are designed to handle inter-atmospheric radiation but the problem with that lies in the fact that most of the energy emitted from the sun is in the UVA and UVB spectrum of things. I honestly don't think that shielding system would have any effect on the Gamma and Theta particle emissions coming out of that plant. I'm sorry to anyone who's more educated than me please fill in the blanks. This is an interesting topic. Also, for what it's worth, I think each one of those suits is prolly worth more than a million bangaroos, so that begs the question, how much is a human life worth to the people in charge? Probably less than the suit costs. I guarantee that much.

reply to post by The Djin


This is why

A new space suit, as of 2009, costs between 13 and 16 million each, to include maintenance. They do not make a new one for every astronaut. There are several sizes and each crew member is fitted. Upon return they are maintained and inspected, very meticulously, before being used again. Posted by a former NASA worker. Read more: wiki.answers.com...

Aldough i did wonder why they use such low tech suits, rubber gloves and duct-tape... wow.

Edit: some more info Here
Also a spacesuit is way to heavy to use on Earth.

reply to post by OnlyLove



13 and 16 million For a suit ?????

So as humans go an American heros' life is far more valuable than a Japanese hero and the likes of Al Fayed see 13 million for a boat to play on as loose change .

Hm, us bald monkeys sure got our priorities all wrong .

reply to post by xXxinfidelxXx

most of the energy emitted from the sun is in the UVA and UVB spectrum of things.

I kind of thought a star was one giant nuclear reactor that's why I couldn't figure out hwy space suits were not used cleaning up Chernobyl .

The Japanese have been making miracles in technology one would have thought they could knock out some space suits that would block radiation for the price of a Blackberry !!!

This is just a guess, but from my observations, I am going to say that the space suits are extremely heavy and cumbersome.

I think they would be completely impractical for use in anything other than a zero gravity environment.

Damn 13mil!

What about a second hand russian one?
They look more flexible as well. )

Originally posted by watchitburn
This is just a guess, but from my observations, I am going to say that the space suits are extremely heavy and cumbersome.

I think they would be completely impractical for use in anything other than a zero gravity environment.

This could well be but at the end of the day they aren't too heavy or cumbersome for the astronauts to get into and operate the spacecrafts whilst on earth. Even so, cumbersome or heavy surely the operators of nuclear power plants could have developed something over the years to address this problem if indeed it is a problem ?

reply to post by The Djin

12. Is the suit too heavy for training on earth?
When training on earth, the astronauts use special lightweight parts and they do a lot of training in water (a large pool called a Weightless Environment Test Facility). When the suit is pressurized with breathing air and the astronaut goes into the water, it is something like being in a balloon and floating on the water. Weights are added around the waist so the astronaut will sink and stay under water. This gives the same feeling of weightlessness the astronaut would feel in space.

Source page 5 point 12.

Originally posted by OnlyLove
reply to post by The Djin

 

12. Is the suit too heavy for training on earth?
When training on earth, the astronauts use special lightweight parts and they do a lot of training in water (a large pool called a Weightless Environment Test Facility). When the suit is pressurized with breathing air and the astronaut goes into the water, it is something like being in a balloon and floating on the water. Weights are added around the waist so the astronaut will sink and stay under water. This gives the same feeling of weightlessness the astronaut would feel in space.

Source page 5 point 12.

According to your source the Apollo suits weighed 180 pounds that's plenty light enough for an emergency such as Fukushima bearing in mind ist could be made lighter, after all it would only be needed as protection from radiation.

I noticed an anomaly in the manufactures spec if you noticed ?

I don't know how to copy and paste from a pdf so bear with me but says =

"THE APOLLO SUIT HAD TO BE LIGHT ENOUGH TO WORK ON THE MOON"

"BUT THE SHUTTLE SUIT IS HEAVIER AS IT DESIGNED FOR ZERO GRAVITY "

WTF !!! ]

I believe the moons gravity is 1/6 of earths so a 300 pound space suit would be no problem or are they implying the moon that they are referring to is on earth ?????.


history.nasa.gov...

Anyone else find this odd ? or am I one of those conspiracy nuts ?

I'm pretty sure that the majority of radiation in space is deflected by the Van-allen belt and I believe most astronauts orbit the earth still inside the VA belt. So the radiation exposure will be marginal at best.

I don't think the guff spewing from Fukushima is the same as the stuff given out by the sun anyway.

Maybe a nuclear physicist can clarify for me, but I believe Uranium and Plutonium used in a nuclear reactor is manufactured by whacking more protons and neutrons into the nucleus of a simpler atom.

If I paid attention in my science classes, then the periodic table is a list of elements with increasing numbers of protons and neutrons with each element.

So hydrogen, the simplest of atoms with an atomic number of 1 (how many protons and neutrons in the nucleus) can be changed into Helium by whacking in one more proton and neutron into the nucleus of a simple hydrogen atom.

They're named after Uranus and Pluto in a strange scientific homage to the planets and their intensely dense atmospheres, thus the simple term "heavy atoms"