After forty years of hopping about in the same bulky spacesuits, it's time for astronauts to have a makeover.
Dava Newman, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT teamed up with Shuttle veteran Jeff Hoffman, also at MIT, to create the BioSuit - a slinky little number designed to be lighter and more flexible than those used now. Instead of using gas pressurisation to protect the astronaut, the BioSuit uses what the scientists call mechanical counter-pressure. The group say the suit could be ready within 10 years, in time for a crewed mission to Mars.
