Shanghai Donghua University to build a space suit to decrypt the spaceman's dressing

At 7:30 on October 17, the "Shenzhou 11" manned spacecraft was launched and will be docked with the "Tiangong-2" space laboratory.

On the morning of October 16, on the "Shenzhou 11" manned mission astronauts met with reporters, astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong handsome appearance. After entering space, they will be in orbit for 33 days, which is by far the longest mission in China.

At the meeting, the new astronauts dressed in the two astronauts of Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong were quite eye-catching, deep and simple, and they were appreciated.

It is learned that this costume is written by Shanghai Donghua University. Donghua University astronauts clothing R & D design team, research and development of the workmanship, workout clothes, casual wear, weightless protective clothing, sleeping gear, etc., including astronauts working in orbit, as well as ground clothes such as uniforms and task training clothes. Dozens of kinds of costumes.

In fact, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, armed police, public security, civil aviation, etc., all have their own professional image of clothing, and in different seasons, different occasions, different roles have changed, shaping a distinctive group image.

When the astronauts are mentioned, people’s minds first appear to be in the thick and stiff spacesuits that slowly move in the vast space. Back to the ground, Chinese astronauts always appear in the public with a gray-blue one-piece long-sleeved costume, regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter. They also wear such a suit during routine work and task training.

So, what is the design and consideration of the design of astronauts' clothing? The answer is "fashion + technology."

Decrypt the astronauts "dressing the war":

In different seasons, there are also "space cool running clothes"

China's astronauts' special clothing is a multi-functional clothing with functional and ergonomic priority and aesthetic appeal.

According to the research and design team of the astronauts' clothing at Donghua University, they are closely related to the theme of “Flying Dreams” and “Chinese Dreams” in terms of design. No matter the surface materials, color patterns, and even the details of the clothing seams, they are integrated with Chinese characteristics. The elements of the era show the beautiful image of Chinese astronauts as space dreamers.

In particular, the astronauts who performed the "Shenzhou 11" mission were wearing autumn and winter uniforms. According to the assistant professor Zhou Honglei of Donghua University, the designer of the clothing, the clothing breaks through the single color mode on the one hand, and adds the color elements of the earth skyline and outer space on the basis of the sky color lake blue, the shades and shades match, let the clothing It looks more full and full of layers. On the other hand, the craft is mainly based on three-dimensional straight lines. The front shoulder metaphorizes the "S" arc of the space flight trajectory and the "V" line of the front chest symbolizing victory. The words echo, showing the beauty of the thickness and harmony. The men's clothing showcases the Chinese astronauts' mighty and solemn, and the women's clothing shows the Chinese women's cool and heroic attitude while also highlighting the feminine temperament of the oriental women.

In fact, some clothing has been unveiled before. For example, Wang Yaping, a female astronaut who carried out the manned missions of "Tiangong No. 1" and "Shenzhou No. 10" in the summer, was wearing a debut TV, and the visual effects were well received.

In addition to the clothing itself, some clothing logos worn by astronauts, as well as neckties and scarves are all in the design task, and all the clothing supplies are designed according to the color and shape of the clothing.

For example, the main line of the astronaut's honor logo is like the trajectory of a spacecraft flying in a blue universe, giving people the momentum to fly upwards. The number of five-pointed stars indicates the number of times the wearer performs a manned mission.

So, what kind of clothing will Chinese astronauts wear after entering space?

In fact, in addition to the launch and return phases, astronauts in the Sky Lab will be replaced with different types of special clothing according to the different stages and occasions of the work tasks to carry out on-orbit work, life and sports.

It is worth mentioning that the Chinese astronauts' on-orbit sports exercise and non-working day casual wear have been carried on the "Tiangong No. 2" space as early as September 15 and are waiting for the astronauts on the Shenzhou 11 Come and get it. These garments were also designed and developed by Donghua University and applied in the "Space 180" scientific experiment.

In order to protect the astronauts' normal work and health, the astronauts' space laboratory mission-like clothing seems to be normal, and in fact it is also very particular.

Take the sports exercise clothing designed by Associate Professor Liu Canming of the Astronaut Apparel R&D and Design Team of Donghua University as an example. It consists of a detachable combination top and trousers, which is used by astronauts in the "Tiangong-2" space laboratory for "space treadmills, cycling".

When designing sportswear, it is necessary to meet the movement change and comfort requirements of the astronaut's limb movement in the weight loss state on the garment structure, and also to take into account the visual experience in the small space laboratory. In the end, the series of sports exercise clothes are based on the results of visual psychology experiments in the simulation cabin. The blue color blocks of different purity are matched and used. The dynamic line segmentation is ergonomic, and the clothes, cuffs and pants are free. Adjustable, sleeves and trousers can be freely disassembled and combined. Special knitted fabrics have good heat and moisture transfer, contact comfort and hygienic cleaning performance, so that sportswear suits meet both functional and technical requirements, and have a stylish design. Cool running clothes."

In order to test and verify the thermo-wet physiological comfort of exercise suits and the ergonomics of limb movements, combined with the previous Chinese male body sweat distribution map and other basic research results of garment physiology, the team also put on the bionic sweating dummy. Exercise exercise suits, biophysical evaluation and analysis under various simulated exercise conditions. In addition, the team developed a special person platform with anthropometric characteristics of astronauts in conjunction with “production, study and research”, and replaced the astronauts in the design process of special clothing to verify and evaluate the aesthetic fit and achieve the astronaut's clothing. Remote custom development.

The innovation team spans the entire industry chain:

The full range of clothes must be matched to reflect the culture of Chinese characteristics.

“Making a common garment often requires dozens of processes in more than 10 stages, such as research, planning, design, raw and auxiliary material collection and structural design, process development and sample production, while in a complex space environment, astronauts’ clothing The requirements for function and quality will be higher. The R&D design of special clothing will almost span the entire textile, clothing, product design, materials and other disciplines and the entire industry chain." Donghua University astronauts clothing R & D design team leader, clothing college Dean Li Jun believes that colleges and universities have unique advantages in undertaking such complex tasks, especially Donghua University, relying on textiles, clothing, art design, materials and other characteristic advantages, as well as a solid foundation of school-enterprise cooperation. It is an interdisciplinary astronaut clothing R&D design team in the fields of natural sciences and humanities, engineering and creative design.

The styles, colors, patterns, textures, etc. of the full range of space suits and accessories not only match each other, but also integrate with the cabin environment, embodying the professional characteristics of the astronauts while embodying the cultural elements of the Chinese characteristics and the characteristics of the times. And spiritual outlook. Different types of clothing with different functions, some can help astronauts to resist muscle atrophy caused by weightlessness in long space flight, and some can also protect astronauts to adjust their mood and mood, while also considering cabin light The display effect after photography, videography and image transmission in the environment can be said to be "the same dish must satisfy the hundred stomachs".

School-enterprise cooperation to vacate a special production line:

Weight error does not exceed 1 gram, requires engineering technology discipline to join

Astronaut clothing, because of its particularity, from small buttons to fabrics, requires custom molds for proofing, which is very time consuming, but the urgency of the task does not allow the team to follow the normal process. Team Ni Jun and Associate Professor Bian Fei designed and proofed the fur collar of the training coat. From the selection of materials and dyeing to the finalization of the fixed leather, it usually takes one month to complete the task tightening in five days. At this time, a good school-enterprise cooperation relationship played a big role. The school joint ventures did not count on investment, and vacated the production line to start the night for the astronauts' clothing project.

Different from ordinary clothing, the “Tiangong No. 2” space laboratory is used to protect the health of astronauts. The sports exercise clothing has special requirements for comfort and ergonomics. The weight error of each piece of clothing exceeds 1 gram, which is unqualified. The size of special parts If the error exceeds 2 mm, it is necessary to rework. To meet all these technical requirements, it is not only the field of clothing art design, but also the addition of engineering and technical discipline. "Aerospace things can't be sloppy at all." Li Jun said that because of the high reliability requirements of space missions, the team spends far more time on testing and risk control than on normal tasks. Relying on the scientific research advantages of the university, the team simulates various scenes and emergencies in the engineering test platform such as aesthetics, comfort, protection and ergonomics. Through thousands of various overall and partial tests on astronauts' special clothing. Carefully and carefully, we strive to do every job accurately, especially to pay more attention to the impact of the details of the clothing on the overall state. Strict quality inspection requirements, so that the professors personally stepped on the sewing machine , standing in front of the ironing table, for each seam traces are "silk-in" and "keke care". Professor Wang Yunyi said, "I was very excited to see the image of Shenzhou 11 astronauts appearing on TV. I feel that the astronauts are wearing special clothes designed and sewn by our hands. They can design, tailor and feel for them. 'Tiangong No. 2' is very close to us and is very kind."

The simulation cabin is specially designed to simulate the sense of weightlessness.

Connected to various physiological parameters to monitor sensor testing

The astronaut costumes are freely floating in space. The existing ground state garment experimental equipment cannot meet the research and development needs of the astronauts' special clothing projects. For this purpose, the team specially designed and built the “dressing weightless feeling simulation cabin”, which can simulate the astronauts on the ground. The performance of the garment under the weightless operation state and the astronaut's physiological response and psychological feeling. So how do you simulate the space weightless environment as much as possible? Reducing friction and eliminating the sense of direction, allowing the subject to slide freely to simulate floating is a critical step.

The team's associate professor Li Xiaohui tried many materials such as stone and plastic. Through multiple rounds of combined testing, the tempered glass with surface properties and workability all meeting the technical requirements was finally selected to carry the head low-position universal wheel sliding trolley. Li Xiaohui personally put on special clothing, connected with various physiological parameter monitoring sensors, and lie on the trolley to rotate freely to test the technical performance of special clothing under the simulated weightless condition. "It is equivalent to the heavenly task to be drilled on the ground first. Find and solve the problem on the ground." Li Xiaohui said.