Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Windscreen wipers for atmosphere suits?

+0
−0

Science fiction often depicts humans visiting alien planets which have unbreathable atmospheres. No problem; they are shown wearing atmosphere suits including a helmet with a transparent visor/faceplate or a transparent globe over the entire head. My question is, what happens when it rains? Most of the designs of helmet shown on SF cover art would mean that all the wearer would be able to see in heavy rain is a curtain of water streaming down the surface of the clear polycarbonate plastic or whatever the visor is made of. Our intrepid explorer would then have no option than to stay where he or she was until the weather cleared.

Two strategies immediately occurred to me. One is to have little windscreen wipers. The other is to carry an umbrella. Would these strategies work? Less drastically uncool would be to have a little brim to your helmet, possibly retractable, but with that you are still going to have difficulties if you need to look up.

I also ask this question on behalf of any aliens currently visiting my corner of Earth, where the weather is particularly dismal today.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/28110. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »