[HN Gopher] ESA - Space Suit Design Competition
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       ESA - Space Suit Design Competition
        
       Author : belter
       Score  : 40 points
       Date   : 2023-02-03 19:31 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (ideas.esa.int)
 (TXT) w3m dump (ideas.esa.int)
        
       | 082349872349872 wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
       | kaiken1987 wrote:
       | Just one word: capes. I think they'd look cool in microgravity.
       | Has anyone ever worn a cape in microgravity?
        
         | EForEndeavour wrote:
         | Without atmosphere, capes wouldn't billow aesthetically. I'm
         | not sure what they'd end up looking like, but I imagine they'd
         | awkwardly just sort of hang there at a weird angle, and swing
         | with the wearer's rotational movements like a flexible
         | pendulum, getting in the way while looking dorky.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | causality0 wrote:
       | Perhaps this is a bit childish, but I can't help laughing at the
       | lazy pasting of the ESA logo on top of the suits in the drawings
       | with no attempt to match art style or lighting. Feels like I'm
       | shopping on AliExpress.
        
       | moffkalast wrote:
       | That second one looks a bit sus. Do they come in red?
        
       | qwertox wrote:
       | > ESA employees, ESA associated members and jury members are
       | prohibited from entering the competition
       | 
       | Why would one want to exclude them? Maybe one of them has a
       | pretty good idea because the environment makes him/her think a
       | lot about it, for years.
       | 
       | I know it may be due to some rules which are typical when there's
       | some prize to win like when collecting some supermarket points or
       | whatever, but in this case? There's more to win for ESA than just
       | a good design.
        
         | shagie wrote:
         | Your ideas will be evaluated according to the follow evaluation
         | criteria:              Representation of the European identity
         | - both visually and within the accompanying text
         | Creative but realistic         Quality of the image
         | Innovative, inspiring design
         | 
         | This isn't about the engineering design of the space suit.
        
         | krisoft wrote:
         | There can be many reason.
         | 
         | Because this is outreach. The goal is not to get space suit
         | designs. The goal is to put the name and existence of the
         | organisation into the head of as many people as possible.
         | 
         | To avoid collusion, or the perception of collusion.
         | 
         | You already paid for the ideas of your own employees. You don't
         | want to pay twice or have the appearance of paying twice.
        
         | browningstreet wrote:
         | maybe the contest isn't really about space suit designs
        
       | nynx wrote:
       | Mechanical counter pressure suits pls!
        
       | 908B64B197 wrote:
       | > We are looking for an EVA suit design presented in A3 format,
       | with an accompanying text of up to 400 words explaining how your
       | design represents European identity.
       | 
       | What is this European Identity? I was under the impression this
       | was a technical contest but I suppose they will simply customize
       | the branding on the American made and engineered EVA suits?
       | 
       | > Proposals have to be submitted in English
       | 
       | Ironic to impose a non-European language for this contest.
        
         | krisoft wrote:
         | > I was under the impression this was a technical contest
         | 
         | What gave you that impression? The big bold "Remember, this
         | competition places the emphasis on the look of the space suit
         | rather than the technical elements" text?
        
         | timeon wrote:
         | > Ironic to impose a non-European language for this contest.
         | 
         | How is English non-European?
         | 
         | Indo-European -> West Germanic -> Anglo-Frisian -> English
        
         | eddsh1994 wrote:
         | English, French, and German are the three working languages of
         | the EU. Many non-UK tech companies use English as their working
         | language like in Sweden. Regardless of this, the UK is a member
         | of the ESA working group.
        
         | flohofwoe wrote:
         | ESA, EU and Europe are all different things. The UK left the
         | EU, but they are still ESA member. And unless they declare
         | their island as its own continent, they also remain a part of
         | Europe ;)
        
         | pavlov wrote:
         | English is an official language in two EU member states, Malta
         | and Ireland. It's also the primary working language of science
         | in the world.
        
           | johnwalkr wrote:
           | Four member states by my count: Canada and UK too! If you
           | count "full" members I think just the UK counts.
        
             | Y_Y wrote:
             | If you think the UK is still in the EU then I have some bad
             | news for you
        
               | Alupis wrote:
               | Bad news? From an outsider looking in, all the hullabaloo
               | and doomsday talk seems to have not become reality. What
               | was actually bad about leaving, other than the optics of
               | it at the time?
        
         | 082349872349872 wrote:
         | > _Ironic to impose a non-European language for this contest._
         | 
         | Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, that's grand.
         | 
         | (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English has 5+ million
         | L1 speakers)
        
       | VWWHFSfQ wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | capableweb wrote:
         | https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Pr...
         | 
         | Last launch: 21 December, 2022
        
         | eddsh1994 wrote:
         | ESA have their own astronauts, one of whom is due to be the
         | first captain of a US spacecraft next year (the rest join Soyuz
         | missions normally). In terms of launches, ESA's first launch
         | was Ariane 1 in 1979.
        
           | pavlov wrote:
           | All right, but apart from the astronauts, the rocket
           | launches, the deep space probes, the Mars orbiter and
           | Spacelab, what have the Europeans ever done for us in space?
        
             | eddsh1994 wrote:
             | Hahaha I've received this reply twice in a fortnight -
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34482179
        
         | blamazon wrote:
         | To answer your question 'has ESA launched anything to space'
         | literally:
         | 
         | Ever heard of the James Webb Space Telescope? Many consider it
         | the most expensive, most complicated, most important single
         | object launched into space.
         | 
         | It was launched to space aboard the 256th Ariane launch from
         | French Guiana and the launch "was described by NASA as
         | "flawless" and "perfect".
         | 
         | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_flight_VA256
        
         | burkaman wrote:
         | They have been launching things into space for about 45 years.
        
       | lagrange77 wrote:
       | They should exclude ML generated images in the submission
       | requirements.
        
         | [deleted]
        
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