Moving around wearing a spacesuit isn’t easy and can be very frustrating. The suit has its own restrictions and there is very less that you can see or feel. Researchers all over the world are busy in trying to make such boots that can make things easier and can give the users a warning of the obstacles and hurdles they might not see. The researchers at MIT Labs have succeeded in making such boots.
The need of these boots
It can be an amusing sight, seeing astronauts striking around on the surface of the moon, but if something happens and this uses up the breathable air or takes place at a sensitive time, this amusing sight can turn into a disaster in no time. The astronauts need to be informed of what they are going to face next on the moon surface. Professor Lea and the graduate students of MIT are busy in finding ways for this.
He said, “There are a lot of different questions that we’re asking within the lab to help with different decisions that need to be made. This particular project looked at now can we potentially help someone navigate their environment and avoid obstacles at the same time.”
About the boots
These boots come with built-in ability to warn the users using vibrations, how close they are from a certain moon rock or antenna. The vibrations will be slow at first and as the user will proceed near to the object, the vibrations will increase.
The boots are not ready to be launched in space anytime soon, but researchers are testing them in the laboratories which have Mars-like conditions in them.
