Game in the Brain

Continued from Vacc Suit musings at TL9

One needs to explain that the way we think of suits as changeable set of clothes is NOT the way people who have to work and live in them see it. 

That a suit is your “workstation” for the next 8-20 hours depending on your shift. That something close to your skin and tight-fitting will trigger a panic attack of claustrophobia while a BULKY suit which can let the wearer pull their arms out of the armholes and self-comfort (massage your own arms and body) is the most Comfortable when you consider that again 8-20 hours (at least in TL9). 

The space suit in TL9 may turn out a bit heavier. of the 60kg and 120kg of support equipment, it  may be 80kg and 40kg of support equipment. I can imagine OSHA rungs (as required when working on elevated spaces) would be built into the structure and DRONES will move along these pulling or carrying Spacers for their work. 

You’re not “wearing” a Spacesuit, especially in EVA work you’re driving it. 

There will be divergent Specialization:

Work Suits (Extravehicular Mobility Unit) – for long work periods plus the support equipment would be 200kg in all. What is expected in the emergent Space race is a TON of these. Once the Infra begins in small runaway progress and thousands of Low-earth-orbit workers arise this is the MAIN labor unit for EVA. 

This will be replaced with special mini-flight work stations with articulated arms for work BUT that won’t happen until Infra from asteroids makes for lower USD per kg LEO economics. You will see more mini-work stations when the TONS in space drops in cost because there is a lot of Asteroid material being redirected to LEO and HEO and GEO (see Atomic Rocket’s Macro Economics).

Crew Suits (Like the Advance Crew Escape Space suits) – your secondary protection in a small service unit (like a small workstation you will use to do your work). 30-60kg but really not meant in hostile vacuum conditions in extended periods. Extended periods is higher lethal risk and the death spiral of exhaustion. 

Crew Suits will be worn at all times and can allow the wearer to be comfortable at the expense of safety (going to the HEAD or fresher). 

This is what will evolve to be TL10 Vacc Suits, but not I’m skipping 100+ years of work life. in the 5-10 generations. The time China took to Catch UP to the USA. The WORKSUITS will be iconic like the SAVE icon based on the 3.5″ drive. 

Drastic human modifications will need to occur for Crew Suits to be something people can wear for days or weeks. Skin Cultures, waste modifications for humans, probably even diets changing altogether. Otherwise, the biomechanics of 2020 humans will require the suit to be as bulky as the EMU. 

Specifications of Advance Crew Escape Suits [edit]

• Name: Advanced Crew Escape Suit (S1035)^[1]
• Derived from: USAF Model S1034^[1]
• Manufacturer: David Clark Company^[1]
• Missions: STS-64^[6] to STS-135
• Function: Intra-vehicular activity (IVA)^[1]
• Pressure Type: Full^[1][3]
• Operating Pressure: 3.5 psi (24 kPa)^[1]
• Suit Weight: 28 lb (13 kg)^[1]
• Parachute and Survival Systems weight: 64 lb (29 kg)^[1]
• Total Weight: 92 lb (42 kg)^[1]
• Useful Altitude: 98,000 ft (30 km)^[7]
• Primary Life Support: Vehicle Provided^[1]
• Backup Life Support: 10 minutes^[1]

This is a TL9 Basic Crew Vacc Suit based on the Advance Crew Escape Space suits. 

A. Helmet. The early gen will be transparent. Later gen will be fully enclosed with redundant cameras.

B. Expandable helmet enclosure. This is how people GET inside the suit. This elastic portion expands to allow the wearer inside this. 

C. Displays for other Crew and Access Controls for aid and status. Hardshell portions limit the inflation in this area to give more flexibility through articulation as well allowing the wearer to pull their arms out of the sleeves and rest their arms on their chest and fix their face or reach inside the suit to make adjustments. 

D. Gloves are articulated and have poor manual dexterity except for specialized EVA tools. 

E. provisions of waste removal and waste storage. a complicated set of access control for waste and relief. 

F. Air filters, Power, Heat-Sink, Air Supply and Pressure management. Shielded basic electronics for controls of these.  

G. Tool dispenser. this is a mechanical container for large bulky tools for EVA. 

• Name: Basic Crew Vacc Suit TL9 2200 Model.
• To differentiate it with the Basic EVA Suit TL9 2200 Model. 
• Derived from: Advanced Crew Escape Suit (S1035)^[1]
• Manufacturer: Open Source any Fabrication System TL9 2100 models or older can manufacture the Grade-2 Spare Parts. Spare parts are 60metric tons per 1dton (4metric tons per 1 cubic meter). 
• Assuming Grade+0 Spare parts are 100KCr per 1dTon 20 metric tons of mass (half the density of aluminum).  5Cr per Kg of spare parts for Grade+0. 
• Assuming Grade are x3 more expensive every level in quality and value (x3, x10, x30, x100 etc…). 
• Grade+2 Spare parts for the suit is 50Cr per Kg. or 1MCr per dTon. 
• Grade+3 Spare parts for the Life Support and Tech at 150Cr per Kg. or 3MCr per dTon
• Function: Intra-vehicular activity (IVA) as secondary protection incase of Life support failure, limited EVA 1 day. This is used to Work Inside the Non-Rotating/Non-Gravity section of the ship (Which is 80-90% of the ship).  Crew is expected to wear this the whole time they are outside Grav Habitat. (While in the Artificial Gravity, they wear a TL9 Body-Fit Vacc Suit 2200 model (5-10kg including its helmet; only meant to minimize Pressure Sickness, and survive an hour at most in Pure vacuum – as its pressure management systems fail) in case of Habitat Hull breach or destruction.  
• Life Support: Vehicle Provided^[1]
• Backup Life Support: 10 hours (trained Spacers can reduce their life support demands to a day; this 10 hours is meant for heavy exertion). 
• Pressure Type: Near Full
• Operating Pressure:   0.8 Atmosphere, 81.06kPA, 11.7 psi (see Altitude sickness and decompression sickness)
• Work In Zero G. Pressurized Work in this suit is considered laborious (as though they were under a 10kg load) because of pressure (inflation) that the wearer has to work against. 
• This is where Work suits are better with their Hard Shell and Articulation. Some have 5kg of Load working in (so even characters with Low Str can do labor like Low G humans. But Grade-1 and up Work Suits have no Load Penalty. 
• Hard Shell Suits with labor-saving Strength Augmentation (Exo-Skeletons) are the first Mass Market Use of Exo-Skeletons. 
• A Basic Exo-Skeleton Add On, for Basic Vacc Suit eliminates the Load of working. Adds about 5KCr (but that’s all it does). Usually, such Exo Skeletons have Thruster Packs and Safety Tethers.
• This will never be as comfortable to work with compared to a Grade+1 Basic EVA Suit TL9 2200 Model. 
• Work In 1G. considered under a load of 40kg (10kg of work to move, and 30kg for the weight of it) working in a pressurized suit in 1G. 
• Operating Life: 
• Maintenance: 7 hours of use requires 10 mins of servicing. 
• Work-Life:  5 years or 60 months of use and replacement parts is as though you bought a whole new Suit. 3.5KCr / 60 months = 60Cr per month of maintenance. Not counting the Life support Consumables at 2Cr per Man Day.
• Suit Weight: 10 kg; 500Cr
• Life Support Systems weight: 20kg,  3KCr
• Total Weight: 30kg at 3.5KCr