This is an idea that's been around for decades, but Alan Boyle has a story on the latest advances in space suits, and what may be coming down the technological pike. It's long overdue.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Clark Lindsey has more, with more links.

Grrowl, Dr. Newman...or is that crass.

That's one way to make the space program sexy again.

So why is ultratight supposed to be a good thing? Suppose I have to wear that suit almost all the time for a week?

As it stated in the article, the skinsuit will be much lighter than a conventional space suit. It'll be much easier to work in since the astronaut isn't fighting against the internal pressure which makes the joints stiff.

A skin suit is basically a passive device. It is much simplier than a pressurized suit which should make it more reliable (less to go wrong). It probably will cost much less, too. It might also be more durable.

A skin suit will still need thermal control and other things that a conventional space suit requires. Still, it seems like a good idea.

At ICES the thinking was that a soft suit can be armoured for EVA. For more, look at my July 4 post.

From talks I heard at ICES, the thinking is that a soft suit can be armoured for EVA and other worlds. A more advanced suit with pressurised helmet can be seen in my July 4 post.

A skin suit will still need thermal control and other things that a conventional space suit requires.

But even for that, my understanding is that rather than having a heat exchanger hooked to a flash evaporator for shedding heat, a skin suit would allow perspiration directly to the vacuum, helping to cool the wearer.