Apollo 17's Jack Schmitt is shown hard at work on the Moon in this 1972 image.
The image at the top of the page depicts an astronaut wearing a mechanical counter-pressure (MCP) suit outfitted for extreme Martian exploration.
Suit elements in order of donning are: (1) comfortable elastic bio-suit layer; (4) hard torso shell; and (5) portable life support system that attaches mechanically to the hard torso shell, and provides gas counter pressure.
Future space explorers may apply a "spray-on" second skin, an organic, biodegradable layer offering protection in extremely dusty planetary environments.
Incorporated into the second skin will be electrically actuated artificial muscle fibers to enhance human strength and stamina.
Research is under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a Bio-Suit System that incorporates a suit designed to augment a person's biological skin by providing mechanical counter-pressure.
The Bio-Suit System could embody communications equipment, biosensors, computers, even climbing gear for spacewalks or what NASA calls an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA).
"When we get back to the Moon and on Mars, we're not going there to stay in a habitat," said Dava Newman, professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems here at MIT.
The study is multi-pronged and is intended to better calibrate astronaut performance, explore improvements to current spacesuit designs and generate novel ideas for a new generation of space exploration suits.
Newman said that the spacesuits of today are very limited in terms of mobility.
In addition, the current weight or mass of EVA suits is another limiting factor.
The MIT group has investigated unique modeling techniques, such as taking 3D laser scans of a person.
Then, using mathematical modeling and mechanics techniques, a "stress-strain field calculation" is performed for the entire human body.