NASA Unveils New 'Tron' Z-2 Spacesuit Prototype
NASA has unveiled the prototype for their new "Tron"-esque spacesuit, which is designed to be worn on Mars.
On April 30, NASA unveiled their new prototype for the Z-2 spacesuit, which has an external "cover layer," chosen by public vote.
The cover layer design, which is called "Technology," won the spacesuit design challenge with 147,354 votes, which is just over 63 percent of total votes cast, the Mother Nature Network reports.
The other two choices, called "Biomimicry" and "Trends in Society," received 53,057 and 33,020 votes.
The new cover layer is now part of the Z-2 design, which will be constructed and ready to test by November, NASA officials said. However, the testing will not prepare the new suit for spaceflight. The Z-series suit is still in the prototype phase, and is being designed to allow astronauts to one day wear the spacesuits on Mars.
NASA said that the Z-2 prototype will influence the design of the suit's next iteration, the Z-3.
The Z-2 has more new features than the Z-1 suit, which was named one of the best inventions of 2012 by TIME Magazine.
Officials said the Z-2's hard upper torso increases the suit's durability, and it uses materials that can be worn in the vacuum of space.
And the new cover layer, which has electroluminescent wiring and a futuristic look, does more than just look cool.
"The cover layer of a non-flight suit still performs an important function in ground-based testing. The cover protects the lower layers and technical details from abrasion and snags during testing," NASA officials wrote in a press release.
"The cover layer on flight suits used for spacewalks performs many other important functions like protecting the spacewalker from micrometeorite strikes, the extreme temperatures in space and the harmful effects of radiation," they added. "These requirements drive selection of specific high-performance materials and design details that aren't necessary at this stage in a prototype suit."
Check out photos of the new Z-2 spacesuits here.