Radiation Protection in Mechanical Counterpressure Spacesuit

I want to use mechanical counterpressure spacesuits (something along the lines of BioSuit) for my story. They seem to have many advantages over traditional pressure spacesuits.

The existing prototypes are lightweight and do not restrict movement as much as traditional spacesuits. They also seem to be safer when it comes to tearing (no depressurisation). A new generation of materials can make them self-healing to reduce risks even further. Scientists are also looking into using alloys and special wired structures to work as exo-skeletons. Mechanical compression has an additional benefit of slowing down the bone loss process typical for low-gravity environments.

The list of possible advantages and benefits goes on and on. However, I could not find anything specific on radiation protection. What materials or technologies can be used to protect from radiation given that the wearer has to spend hours working in deep space outside of spaceship?

Typical tasks that astronauts perform:

• repairs of starcraft and equipment that can be done more efficiently by humans (rather than robots);
• mining equipment maintenance on asteroids;
• geological surveys prior to terraforming;
• recreational spacewalks.

Technological level:

• fully automated and robotised asteroid mining (still some human supervision is needed);
• space travel at 1/10 of the speed of light;
• terraforming technologies (however, only one project has been completed successfully by the time of their departure);
• highly developed recycling and reclamation technologies;
• genetic engineering;
• suspended animation.

NB: Something like contemporary EMU is not an option: too bulky, low mobility, and high risk of decompression due to minor damage from a tiny asteroid. My astronauts need (and want) greater freedom of movement and lower risks.

posted about 7 years ago

Olga‭

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