1
00:00:10,690 --> 00:00:13,226
Fifty years ago, this past July,

2
00:00:13,466 --> 00:00:16,889
humans set foot on the moon for first time

3
00:00:17,053 --> 00:00:20,179
and redefined how we think
about our planet.

4
00:00:21,199 --> 00:00:25,769
Every time you've ever seen a person
waking on the moon or in space,

5
00:00:26,205 --> 00:00:28,660
they've been wearing a spacesuit.

6
00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:34,052
The spacesuit embodies what it means
to be a part of human kind -

7
00:00:34,249 --> 00:00:38,631
to explore and to achieve
something we thought was impossible.

8
00:00:39,123 --> 00:00:41,627
But it's not just
a simple piece of clothing.

9
00:00:41,867 --> 00:00:47,303
The spacesuit is one of the greatest
technical engineering feat ever achieved.

10
00:00:47,823 --> 00:00:50,333
It does everything a spacecraft does

11
00:00:50,333 --> 00:00:51,930
to keep a person alive

12
00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,291
except it's wearable.

13
00:00:55,721 --> 00:00:57,432
But despite how advanced it is,

14
00:00:57,432 --> 00:01:00,332
the spacesuit is
surprisingly dangerous to wear.

15
00:01:00,862 --> 00:01:03,033
You'd never know just by looking at it,

16
00:01:03,033 --> 00:01:06,032
but this suit injures astronauts:

17
00:01:06,784 --> 00:01:10,556
bruises, sprains, pinched nerves,

18
00:01:10,727 --> 00:01:13,597
and even lost fingernails.

19
00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,086
23 astronauts have needed 
shoulder surgeries

20
00:01:18,086 --> 00:01:21,356
to repair injuries
like torn rotator cuffs.

21
00:01:22,036 --> 00:01:26,073
If something like that happened 
on the surface of the moon or Mars,

22
00:01:26,297 --> 00:01:28,493
it could destroy the mission.

23
00:01:29,401 --> 00:01:31,450
Bottom line - improving the spacesuit

24
00:01:31,450 --> 00:01:35,160
is one of the biggest barriers
to human space exploration

25
00:01:35,390 --> 00:01:37,128
that no one's talking about.

26
00:01:37,678 --> 00:01:41,884
I believe one of the most important things
we can do to advance science

27
00:01:41,884 --> 00:01:43,915
is to send a human to Mars.

28
00:01:45,030 --> 00:01:47,538
We've learned so much
from our robotic explorers,

29
00:01:47,538 --> 00:01:49,638
but they're so limited.

30
00:01:50,397 --> 00:01:52,665
One person on that planet's surface

31
00:01:52,665 --> 00:01:56,496
could unlock the history
of how our solar system formed,

32
00:01:56,606 --> 00:01:59,231
or possibly even how life began.

33
00:01:59,634 --> 00:02:02,732
It'll take billions of dollars
to send people to Mars,

34
00:02:02,732 --> 00:02:07,212
but you don't just go to Mars to stay
inside your habitat the whole time.

35
00:02:07,832 --> 00:02:11,019
Astronauts will be exploring 
and wearing the suit

36
00:02:11,449 --> 00:02:12,509
a lot.

37
00:02:12,770 --> 00:02:14,214
With current NASA plans,

38
00:02:14,214 --> 00:02:18,308
if you sent five people
to the surface for 500 days,

39
00:02:18,488 --> 00:02:20,862
that'd be about 1,000 space walks

40
00:02:20,862 --> 00:02:22,864
over the course of one mission.

41
00:02:23,323 --> 00:02:24,847
For perspective,

42
00:02:24,847 --> 00:02:28,176
we've done just over 400 spacewalks

43
00:02:28,176 --> 00:02:31,510
in the entire history
of human space flight.

44
00:02:32,260 --> 00:02:35,354
That's an insane jump in capability.

45
00:02:36,344 --> 00:02:39,989
If we're going to pull this off -
and I believe that we will -

46
00:02:40,375 --> 00:02:43,674
we need to radically
redefine the spacesuit.

47
00:02:44,815 --> 00:02:47,279
I became interested in space exploration

48
00:02:47,279 --> 00:02:48,609
in the third grade

49
00:02:48,609 --> 00:02:52,179
when my teacher spent the day
telling us about astronauts.

50
00:02:52,569 --> 00:02:58,330
It was the first time I really understood
that people could go there.

51
00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,983
Since that time, human space flight
has been the driving passion of my life.

52
00:03:03,340 --> 00:03:05,043
But I only began to understand

53
00:03:05,043 --> 00:03:08,743
how hard it is for astronauts
to work inside their spacesuits

54
00:03:08,743 --> 00:03:10,340
when I went to graduate school.

55
00:03:10,460 --> 00:03:14,637
The spacesuit is pressurized with oxygen
to allow people to breathe,

56
00:03:14,637 --> 00:03:17,946
but that pressure
makes it stiff and rigid.

57
00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:21,088
Think about trying
to make a balloon animal.

58
00:03:21,338 --> 00:03:22,845
When you bend the balloon,

59
00:03:22,845 --> 00:03:26,057
It wants to spring back
to its original position.

60
00:03:26,870 --> 00:03:29,008
Engineers have tried to solve this problem

61
00:03:29,008 --> 00:03:32,759
by designing the suit's joints
with pleats and bearings,

62
00:03:32,759 --> 00:03:37,756
but it still forces people
to move in awkward and unnatural ways.

63
00:03:38,616 --> 00:03:39,624
To move in the suit,

64
00:03:39,624 --> 00:03:43,723
first you have to move your body
until it makes contact with the suit.

65
00:03:43,723 --> 00:03:46,658
Only then does the suit
itself start to move.

66
00:03:47,206 --> 00:03:49,252
You can't just reach up
and touch your head,

67
00:03:49,252 --> 00:03:50,254
like this;

68
00:03:50,254 --> 00:03:53,875
instead, astronauts
have to roll out their shoulder

69
00:03:54,041 --> 00:03:57,121
and then bend their elbow
to touch their helmet.

70
00:03:57,549 --> 00:04:00,843
That's hard enough to remember
how to do here on Earth,

71
00:04:00,843 --> 00:04:03,395
let alone when you're
outside your spacecraft,

72
00:04:03,420 --> 00:04:06,768
travelling at over 17,000 miles per hour.

73
00:04:06,988 --> 00:04:09,182
Fit is another major issue.

74
00:04:09,394 --> 00:04:10,903
In March 2019,

75
00:04:10,903 --> 00:04:14,028
NASA had to cancel
the first all-female spacewalk

76
00:04:14,443 --> 00:04:17,307
because the suits available
didn't fit the crew members,

77
00:04:17,307 --> 00:04:19,212
and it would have taken too much time

78
00:04:19,212 --> 00:04:23,025
to put together a different suit,
on orbit, that was the right size.

79
00:04:24,185 --> 00:04:27,891
So pressure plus fit
is why astronauts get beat up

80
00:04:27,901 --> 00:04:30,158
every time they work inside the suit.

81
00:04:31,138 --> 00:04:35,749
And that's why I've dedicated my career
to designing a better spacesuit.

82
00:04:37,189 --> 00:04:42,014
The first step is to understand
how people move while wearing the suit.

83
00:04:42,364 --> 00:04:43,989
You can't just see inside

84
00:04:43,989 --> 00:04:47,218
to understand how and why
astronauts are getting injured.

85
00:04:47,497 --> 00:04:50,736
So, together with
my students at CU Boulder,

86
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:52,557
we're developing wearable sensors

87
00:04:52,557 --> 00:04:53,755
to go inside

88
00:04:54,166 --> 00:04:57,287
to measure how people move
and interact with the suit.

89
00:04:58,406 --> 00:04:59,725
With this data,

90
00:04:59,725 --> 00:05:01,383
we hope to be able to predict

91
00:05:01,383 --> 00:05:03,639
whether or not the suit
will be comfortable

92
00:05:03,639 --> 00:05:04,839
or cause injuries

93
00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,481
after someone wears it
a couple hundred times.

94
00:05:08,107 --> 00:05:12,235
When humans take their first steps
onto the surface of Mars,

95
00:05:12,305 --> 00:05:15,022
their boots will make the first impact.

96
00:05:16,033 --> 00:05:18,915
Astronauts haven't needed
to walk in their spacesuits

97
00:05:18,915 --> 00:05:22,659
since Apollo astronauts
left the moon in 1972.

98
00:05:22,901 --> 00:05:27,852
Because the boot is also pressurized,
the foot isn't secured inside of it.

99
00:05:28,332 --> 00:05:30,385
It'd be like wearing
a pair of hiking shoes

100
00:05:30,385 --> 00:05:32,964
that are several sizes too large for you.

101
00:05:33,309 --> 00:05:34,754
Every time you take a step,

102
00:05:34,754 --> 00:05:36,593
the heel lifts out of the back,

103
00:05:36,593 --> 00:05:40,729
causing blisters, wasted energy
and awkward movement.

104
00:05:40,882 --> 00:05:41,936
The thing is,

105
00:05:41,936 --> 00:05:45,513
if you get a blister on a hike,
you just have a bad hike.

106
00:05:45,821 --> 00:05:48,625
If you get a blister
on the surface of Mars,

107
00:05:48,625 --> 00:05:49,975
it's hard to do your job.

108
00:05:50,505 --> 00:05:53,023
And it can be even more painful than that.

109
00:05:53,570 --> 00:05:55,758
One astronaut had a boot issue -

110
00:05:55,758 --> 00:05:58,653
they said it felt
like a knife's edge of pain.

111
00:05:59,998 --> 00:06:01,845
To design a better spacesuit boot,

112
00:06:01,845 --> 00:06:05,727
my student Aubie has built
a four-dimensional motion capture system

113
00:06:05,727 --> 00:06:08,527
that measures the shape
of the foot while walking.

114
00:06:09,247 --> 00:06:10,430
With this data,

115
00:06:10,430 --> 00:06:14,050
we plan to redesign
how the foot fits inside the boot

116
00:06:14,050 --> 00:06:17,507
to ensure our astronauts
can explore further and further.

117
00:06:19,027 --> 00:06:22,841
But if we really want to revolutionize
spacesuits for Mars,

118
00:06:22,871 --> 00:06:24,464
we have to protect the body

119
00:06:24,464 --> 00:06:27,068
in a fundamentally
different way than we do now.

120
00:06:28,038 --> 00:06:31,068
I believe the solution
for a Martian spacesuit

121
00:06:31,068 --> 00:06:34,328
relies on a skin-tight elastic concept,

122
00:06:34,328 --> 00:06:37,666
first proposed in the 1960s
by Dr. Paul Webb.

123
00:06:38,114 --> 00:06:41,298
It uses a concept called
mechanical counterpressure,

124
00:06:41,298 --> 00:06:44,698
which means that rather than using
an inflated garment

125
00:06:44,698 --> 00:06:46,442
to apply pressure to the skin,

126
00:06:46,442 --> 00:06:48,790
the suit itself squeezes the body.

127
00:06:49,824 --> 00:06:52,867
Unfortunately, these suits
have never really gained traction,

128
00:06:52,867 --> 00:06:54,289
because it's so difficult

129
00:06:54,289 --> 00:06:57,035
to create pressure
over the complex shapes of the body,

130
00:06:57,035 --> 00:06:58,605
like the armpit.

131
00:06:59,402 --> 00:07:02,742
When I was a graduate student,
my adviser sent me to Italy

132
00:07:02,742 --> 00:07:07,399
to work with a company, Dainese,
that designs motorcycle racing suits.

133
00:07:07,963 --> 00:07:09,088
David told me,

134
00:07:09,088 --> 00:07:12,420
"These people are the best designers
you will ever meet."

135
00:07:12,723 --> 00:07:16,320
I want you to use your engineering skills
with their design skills

136
00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:20,145
and design some mechanical
counterpressure spacesuit prototypes."

137
00:07:20,527 --> 00:07:22,726
So, off to Italy I went.

138
00:07:22,936 --> 00:07:26,890
That summer was one of the most
creative and inspiring experiences

139
00:07:26,890 --> 00:07:29,100
I have had as an engineer.

140
00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:34,260
Every day, Stefano and I would whip up
some new spacesuit prototype,

141
00:07:34,260 --> 00:07:36,394
test it and then change the design,

142
00:07:36,904 --> 00:07:40,940
always getting closer to
a mechanical counterpressure spacesuit,

143
00:07:40,940 --> 00:07:45,717
but we're still a long ways away
from something that's spaceflight ready.

144
00:07:47,152 --> 00:07:51,651
Since that time, I've continued to work
with this team of friends from MIT,

145
00:07:51,782 --> 00:07:53,463
the University of Minnesota,

146
00:07:53,463 --> 00:07:57,075
the Royal Melbourne Institute
of Technology in Australia,

147
00:07:57,075 --> 00:07:59,513
David Clark company and NASA

148
00:07:59,513 --> 00:08:03,036
to continue pushing
on these design issues.

149
00:08:04,580 --> 00:08:05,788
In my lab now,

150
00:08:05,788 --> 00:08:10,952
we're challenging how we think about using
mechanical counterpressure in spacesuits.

151
00:08:11,258 --> 00:08:14,476
Instead of choosing
either mechanical counterpressure

152
00:08:14,476 --> 00:08:16,143
or gas pressure,

153
00:08:16,443 --> 00:08:18,362
why can't we choose both?

154
00:08:19,613 --> 00:08:22,049
If we cut the design problem in half

155
00:08:22,049 --> 00:08:27,336
and apply, say, 50% of the pressure
with a tight elastic suit layer

156
00:08:27,336 --> 00:08:32,933
and the other 50% with a traditional
gas pressurized suit like we use now,

157
00:08:33,185 --> 00:08:38,298
we'd be able to protect our astronauts
with a suit that's less stiff and rigid

158
00:08:38,298 --> 00:08:41,362
but also safer through redundancy.

159
00:08:42,062 --> 00:08:43,844
And a suit like that

160
00:08:43,854 --> 00:08:46,574
would enable a human mission to Mars.

161
00:08:48,124 --> 00:08:49,987
I believe I will be lucky enough

162
00:08:49,987 --> 00:08:53,866
to see people walking
on the surface of Mars before I die.

163
00:08:54,414 --> 00:08:58,552
But to make a mission
of that magnitude worthwhile,

164
00:08:58,552 --> 00:09:02,345
we have to ensure
our astronauts stay safe.

165
00:09:02,540 --> 00:09:06,350
And we have to ensure
they're able to explore and do science

166
00:09:06,500 --> 00:09:08,726
day after day after day.

167
00:09:09,361 --> 00:09:14,287
It's time to imagine a new design
for our iconic spacesuit.

168
00:09:14,467 --> 00:09:15,490
Thank you.

169
00:09:15,490 --> 00:09:18,377
(Applause)