Threats to the space environment.
Astronauts carry out many missions in space, but the environment in space is also very harsh.
There are many dangers in the space environment, including loss of pressure, lack of oxygen, low temperature, etc.
Air is an important guarantee for the existence of life, but space is an exotic place, and it is also a place where you cannot breathe.
The ambient pressure in space is very small, almost close to a vacuum, and the gases in the air are compressed to such a large volume that they occupy the space around us.
In such a special environment, once the spacecraft crashes or malfunctions, resulting in the loss of pressure in the space environment, the oxygen in the air will quickly escape, resulting in a loss of pressure accident, which will cause the blood of the human body to evaporate rapidly, and the oxygen in the blood will also disappear, so that the human body will quickly lack oxygen.
The depressurized environment can also lead to fetal death due to lack of oxygen.
The depressurized environment can cause tissue cells in the body to quickly suffocate and die due to lack of oxygen and water, which eventually leads to the death of the human body.
Therefore, if a human leaves a spacecraft and goes into space, it will die quickly in an extremely short period of time.
But loss of pressure is not the only danger, as the lack of air blocking and rarefied microgravity in space can greatly increase the intensity of ultraviolet and other electromagnetic waves in sunlight.
This causes the human skin to be burned because it cannot withstand the strong electromagnetic radiation, so without the protection of the spacesuit, the human skin will be burned by the electromagnetic waves and eventually suffocate to death.
In addition to dangers such as loss of pressure and lack of oxygen, the space environment also has extremely low temperatures and strong temperature differences.
In space, where the temperature is extremely cold, basically in an environment of absolute zero, the water will freeze quickly, the human body will be frostbitten, and the vital signs may disappear quickly.
When entering the atmosphere from space, the high temperature generated by friction with the atmosphere can quickly melt water and cause loss of vital signs.
To sum up, the space environment has five deadly dangers, loss of pressure, hypoxia, low temperature, ultraviolet radiation and temperature changes, so in order to ensure the safety of astronauts in space, it is necessary to make extravehicular spacesuits.
An extravehicular spacesuit is a special set of clothing worn by astronauts in order to carry out free activities in outer space, mainly to protect the astronauts' bodies from the hazards of the space environment and to ensure that astronauts can move freely in outer space without being harmed.
The internal structure of the extravehicular spacesuit is quite complex, mainly including environmental control system, life support system, communication system and other important components.
At the same time, the outer material of the extravehicular spacesuit has been specially treated to protect it from cosmic radiation, micrometeors and space debris.
Due to the complex structure of the extravehicular spacesuit, the cost is also relatively expensive.
United States' extravehicular spacesuits cost up to $22 million, while China's spacesuits cost about 30 million yuan.
This is mainly due to the fact that Chinese spacesuits have undergone a lot of innovation and improvement in terms of technology and materials, while also taking into account the special needs of Chinese astronauts.
Design and construction of extravehicular spacesuits.
An extravehicular spacesuit, also known as an "activity suit" or "extravehicular suit", is a kind of space equipment designed for astronauts to carry out activities in the space environment.
The design and construction of extravehicular spacesuits are very complex, and they need to take into account the activities and protection of astronauts at the same time.
The design of an extravehicular spacesuit needs to consider several factors, including the space environment, the needs of astronauts' activities, and the technical bottlenecks of the spacesuit itself.
There are extreme temperature changes, vacuum, microgravity and cosmic radiation in the space environment, so spacesuits need to have good thermal insulation, pressure isolation and radiation protection performance.
At the same time, astronauts need to carry out a variety of tasks, including repairing satellites, conducting scientific experiments, and conducting spacewalks, so extravehicular spacesuits need to be flexible and adaptable.
However, flexibility and protection are two contradictory factors.
On the one hand, astronauts need to be flexible in carrying out various tasks, so extravehicular spacesuits need to have a certain degree of freedom of movement.
On the other hand, there are various dangers in the space environment, so spacesuits need to have good protective properties.
Balancing flexibility and protection is a major challenge in the design of extravehicular spacesuits.
One of the challenges faced by the engineers of the new spacesuit during the design process was how to allow the astronaut to move more inside the extravehicular spacesuit without compromising the protective performance of the spacesuit.
In order to achieve this goal, China's new spacesuit engineers have carried out some exploration and research.
In the course of their research, they discovered a wonderful phenomenon, which is the exoskeleton structure of crayfish.
The structure of the exoskeleton of the crayfish is very hard, which can effectively protect its body from external injuries and at the same time has a certain mobility.
This inspired the new spacesuit engineers, who decided to design the spacesuit with a structure similar to that of a crayfish.
At the heart of this design is the idea of combining the protective performance of an extravehicular spacesuit with flexibility.
The exoskeleton of the crayfish is composed of a number of hard sheet structures, and there is a certain gap between each sheet structure, so that when the crayfish's body is moving, the gap between the hard sheet structures will move, so as to achieve a certain degree of activity.
Drawing on this design concept, the engineers of the new spacesuit divided the extravehicular spacesuit into multiple independent protection units, each of which has good protection performance and can bend and stretch to a certain extent during the astronaut's activities.
This design greatly increases the range and flexibility of the astronaut inside the extravehicular spacesuit, without degrading the protective performance of the extravehicular spacesuit.
The innovative design of China's new spacesuit engineers has attracted widespread attention and praise in the field of spacesuit manufacturing, and has also made Chinese astronauts more comfortable in carrying out various tasks.
Frequency of use of extravehicular spacesuits.
When astronauts perform space missions, they usually need to wear extravehicular spacesuits for extravehicular activities, which is what we often call "spacewalks".
However, the environment in space is very harsh, with large temperature changes, strong radiation, and the impact of objects such as space junk, so the frequency of use of extravehicular spacesuits must be strictly controlled.
Although extravehicular spacesuits are designed specifically for astronauts, they are not infinitely usable.
Due to the particularity of the space environment, the extravehicular spacesuit will suffer serious wear and tear during use.
This includes aging, damage, and contamination of extravehicular spacesuit materials, so each use requires thorough inspection and maintenance to ensure the performance and safety of the extravehicular spacesuit.
To protect the safety of astronauts, the ISS's extravehicular spacesuits need to undergo detailed overhaul and maintenance after each use to ensure that their performance and safety are up to standard.
In the case of extravehicular spacesuits on the ISS, they can only be returned to Earth for maintenance after use, so the frequency of each use is limited.
For China's "Tiangong" space station, because it is more advanced in design and manufacturing, its extravehicular spacesuit not only has better protection performance, but also has a more reasonable frequency of use.
Chinese astronauts perform a number of tasks in space, including adjusting panoramic cameras, operating robotic arms, and conducting emergency return tests, all of which require astronauts to wear extravehicular spacesuits.
Over the past few years, Chinese astronauts have repeatedly carried out extravehicular spacesuits on missions and have also carried out several extravehicular activities on the Tiangong space station, setting a new standard for extravehicular activities on the International Space Station.
With the continuous development of mainland aerospace technology, the frequency of use of extravehicular spacesuits is also increasing.
In the future, with the completion of the construction of the space station and the arrival of more complex space missions, the frequency of use of extravehicular spacesuits is expected to further increase.
epilogue
Extravehicular spacesuits, as protective equipment for astronauts working in the space environment, are very complex to design and manufacture.
However, with the continuous advancement of technology, China's extravehicular spacesuits have achieved significant improvements in protection performance and frequency of use.
In the future, with the continuous development of the mainland's aerospace industry, the frequency of use of extravehicular spacesuits will become higher and higher, contributing more to the mainland's aerospace industry.