BOSTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say stretchy suits for astronauts that mimic the effects of Earth's gravity could combat the ill effects of long periods of weightlessness.
The suits, made of a fabric with carefully configured stretchiness, creates more of a pull at its wearer's feet than at the shoulders, replicating gravity's pull on Earth, the BBC reported Thursday.
Scientists have long been aware of ill effects of long missions of weightlessness, as returning astronauts have lower bone density and muscle mass and can even suffer separation of their vertebrae.
"We take for granted the fact that by sitting and walking around in the terrestrial environment, we're actually exercising our muscles and bones quite a bit," Jim Locke, a NASA flight surgeon, says.
"When you're in space, that loading is removed, and your bones and muscles are not getting the forces they're needing to maintain themselves," he says.
The new suits have varying stretchiness in different parts because gravity works incrementally on the body, so that the shoulders, for example, support just the head, the waist supports the head and torso but the ankles have to support nearly the whole body.
To simulate this gradual force, Dava Newman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her colleagues designed a form-fitting suit with fibers that have a "tuneable" elasticity.
The suit is designed to "pull" on its wearer more nearer the feet, just as gravity does.
The next step is to get the suits tested on an actual space mission, Newman says.
NASA's Locke agrees.
"There should be opportunities to get these things tested; it'll be interesting to see what the crew members think and if they see a benefit or find it too restrictive," he says.
