By 
December 18th, 2020
Credit: Larry Kuznetz
You could call him the Coronavirus spaceman.
Larry Kuznetz is on a mission. A recently formed startup is called Planetary ProTech and has two key goals: Develop a unique spacesuit for Mars explorers by 2025 and a “Q-suit” for Earth by 2021.
A 50-year veteran of the space program, Kuznetz was a flight controller during Apollo, worked on the space shuttle program, and was a life science experiment manager for the International Space Station. He is an inventor, entrepreneur and currently teaches Mars spacesuit design at UC Berkeley.
MarsSuit Project.
Credit: Larry Kuznetz
Photo of the Q-suit being tested in Japan, replete with barrier to entry/barrier to exit design, as well as face to face exposure elimination, super filters and other MarsSuit attributes.
Credit: Larry Kuznetz
Alien environment
“The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed our vulnerability to pathogens as small as 1.5 microns. Imagine then the chaos that might ensue from even smaller pathogens being inadvertently returned from the alien environment of space,” Kuznetz told Inside Outer Space. “Precautions must be taken now before serious planetary exploration begins. And they must be embodied in space suits of the future starting with Mars.”
What Mars has to do with Coronavirus is quite a bit, Kuznetz contends.
First of all, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) is an international group that’s responsible for planetary protection, both forward and backwards.
“Forward means if you send a spacecraft to another planet, like Mars for example, you’re required to try and prevent the dissemination and spread of earthborn contaminants for both ethical and scientific reasons, Kuznetz explains. “For the former, do not do to other worlds what we’ve done to planet Earth. And for the latter, don’t deposit human effluent in the biosphere of that other world…because if you’re looking for life you’ll find it. And it’ll be you not aliens,” he adds.
Digging in…on Mars.
Credit: NASA Langley Advanced Concepts Lab/Analytical Mechanics Associates
What lurks on Mars?
As for backward contamination, it’s forward in reverse and that’s where Cronavirus comes in.
On the Red Planet, nobody knows what lurks in the canyons of Candor Chasma or the valleys of Valles Marineris.
“But if it’s anything like Coronavirus you better not bring it back home. And that is what led to the MarsSuit project, a university/public/government/industry Hypernet using web resources to hypercharge the development of a radically different spacesuit for Mars,” says Kuznetz.
There are many reasons why the MarsSuit has to be different from all others before it: 38% gravity on Mars makes all prior spacesuits far too heavy; the carbon dioxide-laden atmosphere, as light as it is, would render current life-support systems functionless, Kuznetz adds.
Then there’s the dust and the cold that would foul many of the mechanical systems. And most relevant, Kuznetz points out that present suit designs are a magnet for dust and all creatures in it, big and small, a clear violation of backward contamination rules.
Credit: Larry Kuznetz/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Preliminary design
“After decades of thinking about this and vetting it through hundreds of students, engineers, professionals, and the interested public, we’ve got a preliminary design for this MarsSuit,” Kuznetz says.
This by the way, Kuznetz observes, is not the first suit designed to protect us against pathogens carried back from another planet. A biological isolation garment (BIG) was created during project Apollo to shield humans from potential “moon bugs” toted back by early Apollo crewmembers.
It’s all about space technology brought back to Earth, Kuznetz notes.
“It is not a big stretch to imagine some of these elements migrating into Coronavirus-fighting Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to allay the fears of frontline medical personnel. Most of my time these days is spent advancing the design of such a suit. This includes materials, testing, cost effectiveness, ease of manufacturing and a host of other considerations,” Kuznetz says.
On Earth recovery, Apollo 11 crew donned Biological Isolation Garments to protect Earth from possible Moon bugs.
Credit: NASA
“I can’t reveal more as it is proprietary,” Kuznetz makes clear, “but rest assured it will look nothing like a BIG suit. At the moment, things are looking good and we are optimistic. Hopefully, this MarSuit derivative will soon take the forefront against Covid-19 and its insidious relatives waiting in the rafters. We are now actively soliciting partnerships either inside or outside the aerospace industry to produce the Q-suit in quantity, including manufacturers of PPE and hazmat suits,” he concludes.
For website references, MarsSuit development resources can be found on twitter under ME 292 and on YouTube at:
A video demo link is available at:
Posted in Space News
