‘Skinsuit’ to be tested on ISS

A skin-tight body suit developed by a group at King’s College London led by Dr David Green will be tested on the International Space Station to see if it counter-acts some of the detrimental effects of weightlessness :

EAC’s crew medical support office is working with King’s College London and the MIT to test prototypes, and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be the first to wear the suit in space during a mission in early 2015, where he will evaluate it from a functional perspective. If successful UK astronaut Tim Peake could potentially wear the skinsuit on his mission to the International Space Station later in 2015.

The skinsuit could also be used on Earth to counteract the effects of ageing on bone density and muscle mass.

Carvil added: ‘The space environment provides ideal conditions for studying ageing because of the acceleration of muscle and bone wastage in space. At King’s we’re conducting further tests to examine the practicality of wearing the skinsuit both in space and here on Earth as well as investigating further terrestrial applications.’