08-31-2015, 06:21 PM
The necessary pressure doesn't come from filling the whole suit with atmospheric air/oxygen. This makes the joints stiff. The prototype is still a pressure suit, only using mimetic polyalloy mechanical pressure. The SR71 was flying routinely at 80,000 feet unclassified, who knows what the classified ceiling was. The cabin is pressurized but the pilot is in a pressure suit to try to survive an ejection. The pressure suits fighter pilots have use air bladders. The point is you don't want to be using your oxygen supply to be providing sea level air pressure to your whole body, you only need it for your head. The torso can be exposed to low pressure if the head is getting oxygen at Earth sea level pressure. These are all preliminary designs, therefore the need for testing, duh. The fact that Mars does have some atmospheric pressure makes the Earth standard environmental suit more flexible and a lot less complex.
"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"
"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*