gutfreund.umass-coins@UDel-Relay@sri-unix (11/20/82)
From: Steven Gutfreund <gutfreund.umass-coins@UDel-Relay> re: David.Smith's replies o The CO (2) is necessary, but to prevent hypoventilation (as was pointed out to me, football players get oxygen with 5% CO (2) otherwise the breathing reflex is inhibited) o The NYT reports that shuttle suits were supposed to be at 4.3 psi but even though Lenoirs suit only got up to 3.7 psi it was acceptable. This gets me to my disagreement with you. I do not know what 3.7 psi translates to in feet, but I would not be surprized if it is over the 60,000 feet. (these things tend to go exponential) You state that "at low enough pressure (above 60,000 feet), blood will boil at body temperature". Well perhaps this would occur for blood directly exposed to the atmosphere. But the human blood pressure is maintained at a constant pressure by the heart and associated arterio/ vascular system, it does not matter what the pressure outside the skin is. The question to me seems to be: can the skin maintain a 16 psi pressure differential without the body bloating up, aterial dialation, and a massive drop in blood pressure. If so, then I maintain that pressureless thermal spacesuits are a viable alternative. I have remembered the SF story with astronauts that do not need suits, it is in an anthology by Jerry Pournelle: "High Justice". (I highly recommend this anthology for those who want to argue about the economic viability of space). Do you have any independent justification for pressureless space-suits Jerry? - Steven Gutfreund