Mars Mission Space Suit Is Coming! Will NASA Team Up With Rhode Island School Of Design? (Video)

As scientists are preparing all the necessary things for the Mars mission, more suggestions and experiments are coming in. Of which, one of the nation's top school for design made a spacesuit.

Staff members and students at Rhode Island School of Design have come up with a new, adjustable suit that closely resembles an actual space suit. The new suit was unveiled on Monday in Providence. It is expected to be tested during the upcoming Mars simulation mission in 2017 in Hawaii, a report by ABC News said.

The mission's space doctor Sheyna Gifford mentioned that the whole crew needs a better space suit. "A realistic suit is important, so crew members can see what experiments they can do and what tools they can use while wearing it, and how the habitat should be designed to accommodate it. What we're aiming for is the best possible simulation, to inform NASA about what we learned on that simulation so they can succeed in the real thing."

The chief engineering officer on that mission, Andrzej Stewart, put on the suit to check how it fits, how well the ventilation and radio communications worked and how he moved in it. Also, Gifford was an observer together with the NASA spacesuit engineer who will take down notes and give feedback, according to Phys.org.

Stewart with the height of 6 feet 2 tested the simulated suit, but cannot zip up. He wore the hazmat suit instead. He shared that the suit is easy to wear, but not realistic.

Stewart added that "It's great to finally be able to put on a full suit and be able to walk around, be able to move in it. It makes me feel a lot more like an astronaut."

The work began after Gifford spoke to Michael Lye, the adjunct faculty member who coordinates projects between NASA and the school. She said that there is an opportunity to make a realistic suit. She added that "the new suit is great, especially its modularity because it will fit whoever is on the crew, though the exterior ventilation tubes will have to go inside the suit so they don't get caught on something or crushed."

In addition, Micahel Lye said that the materials for the suit will cost up to $10,000, paid for with grants from the HI-SEAS program and the Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium. It will be work on by the students in the industrial design and apparel design programs.