China Anounces Stunning New Spacesuit Concept – for Dolphins

China’s astronaut outfitters design material for spacewalk suits, Xinhuanet

“Pang said the Shenzhou VII spacewalk suit was designed to be like a small aircraft with a propeller allowing astronauts to move freely in space, the newspaper report said. The suit would automatically supply nourishment, oxygen up to seven hours and about 1.9 kilolitres of water, it said, adding a drainage system would let out carbon dioxide and wastewater.”

Editor’s Note: Gee, 1.9 kiloliters (1,900 liters = 502.07 Gallons) of water. At 1kg/liter of water that’s 4,188.8 pounds. That’s quite a capable spacesuit – a great idea if you want to fly dolphins in space – they can even swim around (it might be a little crowded)! As for the propeller – I’m not sure how much good that will do if the suit is used in a vacuum (there’s lots of that in outer space). And besides, dolphins have strong tails – they don’t need propellers.