Wright Suit - 24/Jul/2012
Early 2011, Dublin, Earth & Kandor City, Luna.
Uniforms-like suits that are high-quality, hard-wearing, and, most important, handwavium-free. Custom-fitted. Anyone can wave-up a space suit, but these are comfortable day-to-day wear.
Basic standard dull-grey model sells for $2k. Ones customised for a particular organisation, with places to attach rank markings, for $3k. And, top-of-the-line individually customised ones for $5k. It is clear these are subsidising the basic ones.
They could be made for vacuum sports teams. Specialist 'Search & Rescue' suits could be bright orange; no good reason could be thought of for bright pink. Experiments on the suits can't (yet) find any suitable dye, or bleach, that doesn't also damage their space-worthiness. They do fit men, though some might complain they're a little 'tight' (maybe they don't like the unisex styling?).
The suits are practical but stylish; they are not identical to the uniforms used on O'Neill Station, though the material looks very similar, and the function seems identical. These are disguised spacesuits, with near-invisible gloves concealed in the cuffs, and a near-invisible bubble helmet that can inflate from the collar.
In use the gloves and helmet are near-invisible, except from certain angles. The gloves provide excellent manipulative ability and good insulation, the helmet provides limited glare protection. The suit allows full flexibility – acrobatics and martial arts are quite practical.
The shoulder pads conceal an air supply good for ten minutes. An optional stylish tool-belt (one is supplied with the suit) gives two hours air (takes a day to recharge), CO2 scrubbers and humidity control. The suit is self-sealing for small holes, and includes patches and tourniquets. There is no waste disposal, manoeuvre jets or communications equipment fitted as standard.
The uniform is quite difficult to get dirty, inside or out, and is remarkably comfortable, with the modified sports-footwear giving excellent grip. Yes, underwear is worn with it. It is as protective as light body armour.
This is truly a "Hollywood Spacesuit" - when the life support is active it suppresses hunger, thirst and... toilet requirements. This is OK for the couple of hours that the suit is rated for, but people'd better have multiple occupancy toilet facilities real near their airlocks.
The suit doesn't need recharging, it gets power from the movement of its wearer; the belts do need a power supply to recharge from ambient atmosphere and purge built-up CO2 and water.
Accessories include redundant ear bud communicators, as well as a medical monitor in the form of a throat band, echoed on a PDA wrist display, which doubles as a communicator. There is extended life support, six hours (fits in the small of the back), which adds to the two hours the tool belts give (needs two hours to fully recharge), with a PDA wrist communicator that warns of medical stress (including too long without food, water or a toilet break).
A 'Buy One Get One Free' offer is on the tool belts, so people have a spare, as well as one recharging. Stuff always get broken or lost, and it is bad if this happens to important parts of a space suit. Swapping between three belts would give you six hours air. If you plan on more than two hours vacuum work per day then the extended life support accessory is strongly recommended.
Cleaning kits for both inside and outside of the suits are available, though there are clear 'dos and don'ts' in both the vacuum-proof paper and the electronic versions of the manual (a normal washing machine is OK; don't dry-clean; often wet-wipes are sufficient).
Custom fitting involves either going to a store or supplying 'Blender' models (possibly plus attachments) in a number of standard postures. There is no problem with provision for tails, ears, antennae, horns, digigrade, four arms, etc., but the limit is near-humanoid (centaurs or quadrupeds, or wings, aren't (currently) practical).
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
Early 2011, Dublin, Earth & Kandor City, Luna.
Uniforms-like suits that are high-quality, hard-wearing, and, most important, handwavium-free. Custom-fitted. Anyone can wave-up a space suit, but these are comfortable day-to-day wear.
Basic standard dull-grey model sells for $2k. Ones customised for a particular organisation, with places to attach rank markings, for $3k. And, top-of-the-line individually customised ones for $5k. It is clear these are subsidising the basic ones.
They could be made for vacuum sports teams. Specialist 'Search & Rescue' suits could be bright orange; no good reason could be thought of for bright pink. Experiments on the suits can't (yet) find any suitable dye, or bleach, that doesn't also damage their space-worthiness. They do fit men, though some might complain they're a little 'tight' (maybe they don't like the unisex styling?).
The suits are practical but stylish; they are not identical to the uniforms used on O'Neill Station, though the material looks very similar, and the function seems identical. These are disguised spacesuits, with near-invisible gloves concealed in the cuffs, and a near-invisible bubble helmet that can inflate from the collar.
In use the gloves and helmet are near-invisible, except from certain angles. The gloves provide excellent manipulative ability and good insulation, the helmet provides limited glare protection. The suit allows full flexibility – acrobatics and martial arts are quite practical.
The shoulder pads conceal an air supply good for ten minutes. An optional stylish tool-belt (one is supplied with the suit) gives two hours air (takes a day to recharge), CO2 scrubbers and humidity control. The suit is self-sealing for small holes, and includes patches and tourniquets. There is no waste disposal, manoeuvre jets or communications equipment fitted as standard.
The uniform is quite difficult to get dirty, inside or out, and is remarkably comfortable, with the modified sports-footwear giving excellent grip. Yes, underwear is worn with it. It is as protective as light body armour.
This is truly a "Hollywood Spacesuit" - when the life support is active it suppresses hunger, thirst and... toilet requirements. This is OK for the couple of hours that the suit is rated for, but people'd better have multiple occupancy toilet facilities real near their airlocks.
The suit doesn't need recharging, it gets power from the movement of its wearer; the belts do need a power supply to recharge from ambient atmosphere and purge built-up CO2 and water.
Accessories include redundant ear bud communicators, as well as a medical monitor in the form of a throat band, echoed on a PDA wrist display, which doubles as a communicator. There is extended life support, six hours (fits in the small of the back), which adds to the two hours the tool belts give (needs two hours to fully recharge), with a PDA wrist communicator that warns of medical stress (including too long without food, water or a toilet break).
A 'Buy One Get One Free' offer is on the tool belts, so people have a spare, as well as one recharging. Stuff always get broken or lost, and it is bad if this happens to important parts of a space suit. Swapping between three belts would give you six hours air. If you plan on more than two hours vacuum work per day then the extended life support accessory is strongly recommended.
Cleaning kits for both inside and outside of the suits are available, though there are clear 'dos and don'ts' in both the vacuum-proof paper and the electronic versions of the manual (a normal washing machine is OK; don't dry-clean; often wet-wipes are sufficient).
Custom fitting involves either going to a store or supplying 'Blender' models (possibly plus attachments) in a number of standard postures. There is no problem with provision for tails, ears, antennae, horns, digigrade, four arms, etc., but the limit is near-humanoid (centaurs or quadrupeds, or wings, aren't (currently) practical).
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind