#dava newman

[starlings-law]

HOORAY! Mini collection is done. Some of you might remember that my very first quarter here I used this same inspiration for a 501 day project. Now it's my last quarter. It's the circle of life. thank you @onlyofelia (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

[sci-sexual]

Dava Newman is a truly EPIC scientist and engineer. She was the deputy administrator of NASA from 2015-2017 but that's just scratching the surface of her achievements, discoveries and design accomplishments.

Newman conducted countless experiments regarding human performance in microgravity, even designing a suite of instruments to see the short and long-term stress a body takes in spaceflight.

She also studied the effects of different kinds of pressure on our bodies. This led her to design the Biosuit, where pressure is applied from the material directly to an astronaut's skin, rather than having a gas be in between. This spacesuit would be far more maneuverable (not to mention golden age-scifi sexy!) than the classic design, which would be infinitely better for spacewalks, repairs in microgravity, and eventual sorties on Mars and the moon. Hence one of the 300+ papers she published, “Probability of Spacesuit-Induced Fingernail Trauma is associated with Hand Circumference".

She has numerous patents for compression related inventions, had countless awards and honors bestowed upon her, and overall is a brilliant, beautiful, sexy scientist and aerospace engineer. Her existence makes my heart leap with joy!

[starlings-law]

“(Dava) Newman is best known for promoting the development of space activity suits, namely the BioSuit, which would provide pressure through compression directly on the skin via the suit's textile weave, patterning, and materials rather than with pressurized gas. The suit is designed to help astronauts move around more easily than gas-filled suits allow.“  (Wikipedia) I’m working on concepts and eventually one of the outfits I’m coming up with will be made.  I feel like I’m having a bit of creative block but I like SOME of these and they’re not all going to be winners.  There are two other posts with my other concepts.  

[astro-linz]

“NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman speaks at the Engaging Women and Girls in STEM through Data Science event on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The event was held as part of the White House's United State of Women Summit.” (via Engaging Women and Girls in STEM through Data Science Event)

[radhardened]

White House Kitchen Garden Planting (NHQ201604050014) by NASA HQ PHOTO Via Flickr: First Lady Michelle Obama, holds up NASA Veggie stickers while posing with Brad Carpenter, NASA chief scientist, Space Life and Physical Sciences, left; NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman, second left; NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, second right; and Gioia Massa, science team lead, Veggie project, right; after planting the same variety of lettuce that was grown on the International Space Station in the White House Kitchen Garden on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

[rjbailey]

Deputy Administrator Dava Newman Attends Orbital ATK CRS-4 Launch (NHQ201512030001) by NASA HQ PHOTO Via Flickr: NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman gives a thumbs up in front of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft onboard at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 in Florida. Launch of the Atlas V rocket is scheduled for 5:55pm Dec. 3. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

[planned-planethood]

Is it possible to have a spacesuit that is skin tight? My logic on this is that space wants to separate your bodies atoms but can the pressure be neutralized by having a tight enough skin suit? Am I even making sense?

Meet Dava Newman:

Now NASA’s Deputy Administrator (second-in-command). She’s spent years at MIT developing what’s known as the “BioSuit” - basically a skintight spacesuit that would use mechanical counter-pressure to apply about a third of an atmosphere on the body, enabling exploration with full range of motion, minimizing the energy spent fighting your own bubble-boy-of-a-suit.

There were a couple of problems remaining when she left to work for NASA:

The design so far still includes a pressurized helmet that has a seal issue with the rest of the suit. Also certain parts of the suit (the hands as you can see above) are difficult to get quite right.

The second problem is going to be returned to in a few years. The last I heard the research group was going to let material science develop carbon nanotubes and graphene a bit more and then try using those two materials somehow in the design.

It’s a super promising design and I hope they get it down pat! As is, it stands to benefit the medical community as well as to open astronaut qualifications to people shorter than 5′5″ (or somewhere around there) - below which apparently they can’t even apply to be an astronaut due to the spacesuits not being made small enough.

(Image credit: Professor Dava Newman: Inventor, Science Engineering; Guillermo Trotti, A.I.A., Trotti and Associates, Inc. (Cambridge, MA): Design; Dainese (Vincenca, Italy): Fabrication; Douglas Sonders: Photography)

[womeninspace]

How To Become Deputy Administrator of NASA

If you’re anything like Dava Newman you start off a shoeshine business and work from there. She studied at the University of Notre Dame with a major in Aerospace and continued with 3 other degrees at MIT.

After completing a PhD, she taught at MIT as well. And then one day, she received a phone call from the White House...

Read the whole interview @ The Verge