This is NASA’s new Z-2 spacesuit

The follow-up to NASA’s rather Toy Story-esque Z-1 spacesuit was decided this week, thanks to an online poll. Three options were up for the task of being the next cover layer that will protect the Z-2, and after garnering 63 percent of the vote, the “Technology” option will be part of the agency’s new threads. An unadvertised underlying theme continues as renders of this suit certainly have a bit of a Tron aesthetic. Now, NASA engineers will move on to vacuum chamber, Neutral Buoyancy Lab, and rocky Martian surface tests which are all expected to commence this fall. There’s plenty of features that make this an improvement over previous models, so let’s take a closer look at the details.

NASA says that the biggest improvement for Z-2 suit is its hard composite upper torso, which will offer the increased durability needed for Extravehicular Activity (EVA).

Luminex wire and light-emitting patches allows for easy identification of crew members.

For increased mobility, collapsing pleats allow the suit to fold, catering to an astronaut’s activity.

There’s also exposed rotating bearings and abrasion resistant panels along the torso of the suit to further improve wear, protection and mobility.

As mentioned, the testing phase — which includes buoyancy trials — is slated to begin this fall.

One of Time Magazine’s Best Invention’s of 2012, the Z-1 suit was the first to use 3D scans for sizing, a suit-port with a hard upper torso structure and, at the time, the most resizable space wear that had be developed.

[All images courtesy of NASA]

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Source: NASA

BMW’s all-electric i3 ready to roll in the US

At long last, BMW’s eco-friendly i-series cars are reaching US buyers. The automaker has delivered its first all-electric i3 models to a handful of Americans that include both loyal ActiveE driver Charles Rabie as well as Ashlan Gorse Cousteau, the wife of documentary maker Philippe Cousteau Jr. As the photo you see here would suggest, BMW is also close to rolling out “hundreds” of further orders to patient customers who’ve been waiting the better part of three years to see the EV become reality. The sportier (and wealthier) crowd will have to wait until September to scoop up the i8, but the i3′s arrival is good news if you have just over $41,000 to spend on tech-savvy, emission-free transportation.

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Source: BMW

Scientists confirm the existence of the heaviest element ever seen

It’s tricky to verify the existence of super heavy elements; you have to fuse very short-lived materials, hope you get some useful atoms, and wait for someone else to reproduce your achievement. However, scientists at a particle accelerator lab in Germany have managed that rare feat by creating and confirming Element 117, the heaviest substance observed so far. It was produced by smashing together thousands of calcium 48 and berkelium 249 atoms, and is about 40 percent heavier than lead.

Not that you’ll get to see the fruits of that labor in person. The team created just four atoms, and those examples decayed into other elements within milliseconds. Even so, that should be enough to get Element 117 both a proper spot on the periodic table and a better name than the rather awkward “Ununseptium.” The decay also produced isotopes of additional elements whose half-life could be measured in hours, which is exceptionally long — that suggests that there are undiscovered super heavy materials that could be relatively stable.

[Image credit: Guillaume Speurt/My Last Destination, Flickr]

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Via: IFLS, Phys.org

Source: Physical Review Letters