An environmental suit is a

suit A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt su ...

designed specifically for a particular environment, usually one otherwise hostile to humans. An environment suit is typically a one-piece garment, and many types also feature a

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

or other covering for the head. Where the surrounding environment is especially dangerous the suit is completely sealed. The first environmental suits were

diving suit A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit may also incorporate a breathing gas supply (such as for a standard diving dress or atmospheric diving suit), but in most cases th ...

s designed to protect a diver from the surrounding water (see timeline of underwater technology). Later developments were designed to protect the wearer from the cold (for example wetsuits and other ambient pressure suits) or from undersea high

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and eve ...

and the resulting

decompression sickness Decompression sickness (DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from Solution (chemistry), solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during D ...

(for example

atmospheric diving suit An atmospheric diving suit (ADS), or single atmosphere diving suit is a small one-person articulated submersible which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of on ...

s). Protecting the wearer from cold is also a feature of

ski suit A ski suit is a suit made to be worn over the rest of the clothes when skiing or snowboarding.aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

pressure suit A pressure suit is a protective suit worn by high-altitude pilots who may fly at altitudes where the air pressure is too low for an unprotected person to survive, even when breathing pure oxygen at positive pressure. Such suits may be either fu ...

s protect fighter

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

s from hypoxia /

altitude sickness Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is a harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People's bodies can respond to high altitude in different wa ...

, and

g-suit A g-suit, or anti-''g'' suit, is a flight suit worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration force ( g). It is designed to prevent a black-out and g-LOC (g-induced loss of consciousness) caused by the blood poo ...

s from the adverse effects of acceleration (gravity-induced loss of consciousness, or

G-LOC g-force induced loss of consciousness (abbreviated as G-LOC, pronounced "JEE-lock") is a term generally used in aerospace physiology to describe a loss of consciousness occurring from excessive and sustained g-forces draining blood away from ...

). The most extreme environmental suits are used by

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

s to protect them during ascent and while in the vacuum of space:

space suit A space suit (or spacesuit) is an environmental suit used for protection from the harsh environment of outer space, mainly from its vacuum as a highly specialized pressure suit, but also its temperature extremes, as well as radiation and ...

s and space activity suits. Such suits are self-supporting, and include a supply of

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

for the wearer. Environmental suits are also used to protect the wearer from contamination (for example

hazmat suit A hazmat suit is a piece of personal protective equipment that consists of an permeation, impermeable whole-body or one piece garment worn as protection against hazardous materials. Such suits are often combined with self-contained breathing ap ...

s), or conversely to protect the environment from contamination by the wearer (see cleanroom suits). The concept of an environmental suit protecting someone from contamination is a feature of the boy in the bubble trope: both David Vetter and Ted DeVita at some point used such suits.

References

* Comprehensive exposition of all major factors, including some analysis of active clothing systems * History of US spacesuit development * History of Russian spacesuit development * Discusses US, Russian and European advanced EVA concepts and prototypes * Less focused on clothing than Ken Parsons' book, and more on biological effects of environment on humans. * * Discusses theories of human brain cooling and possibility of similar rete mirabile structure as found in some animals. * Discusses how the body adapts to pressure (high and low), cold, heat, and space. {{Refend Protective gear Safety clothing One-piece suits ru:Скафандр

See also

References