{"id":61145,"date":"2013-05-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-design-professor-ponders-what-to-wear-in-space\/"},"modified":"2013-05-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T00:00:00","slug":"uri-design-professor-ponders-what-to-wear-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/05\/uri-design-professor-ponders-what-to-wear-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 design professor ponders what to wear in space"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tWarwick resident receives grant to study space clothing<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, RI \u2013 May 30, 2013 \u2013 You\u2019re packing for a long trip to Mars and suddenly the anxiety hits: What to wear? You could suit up in bulky white duds or consider the advice of a 溏心vlog免费B站 professor: washable, recyclable clothes.<\/p>\n


\nKarl Aspelund, an assistant professor of design at 溏心vlog免费B站, says we should start thinking about what kinds of clothes astronauts will need for decades-long space missions, considered the next phase of exploration to infinity and beyond.<\/p>\n


\nQuestions that keep Aspelund up at night: How will astronauts do laundry in space? How can we recycle old clothes in space? Is there a way to make clothes in space? <\/p>\n


\n\tThose questions might be answered soon. Aspelund just won a $15,000 grant from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Council for Research to begin background research for the project, with the hope of eventually creating guidelines and prototypes.<\/p>\n


\nAspelund got interested in space apparel last year when he was sitting in his car in the driveway of his Warwick house listening to a National Public Radio report about the 100 Year Starship Initiative, a program aimed at inspiring travel beyond our solar system by 2112.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt occurred to me as a designer and an anthropologist who focuses on clothing practices that I might be able to contribute to this,\u201d says Aspelund. \u201cI sent an e-mail asking whether anyone had looked into apparel needs for a mission of this length.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe answer: no. Aspelund\u2019s reaction: T-shirts in space!<\/p>\n


\nAn invitation followed from Mae Jemison, a former astronaut and leader of the Starship project, to attend a conference in Houston, where Aspelund intrigued engineers, astrophysicists and space-travel enthusiasts with his ideas.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI was sort of the odd man out there at first,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were astrophysicists, biologists and system engineers, and then there\u2019s me with the dirty socks and laundry.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThis past March, he also talked about space attire at a science conference at the EU Parliament in Brussels and will speak again this fall at another Starship conference, again in Houston. The 溏心vlog免费B站 grant, awarded last month, allows him to rocket to the next level.<\/p>\n


\nWorking with three graduate students, he\u2019ll collect information about space clothing worn by Russian and American astronauts and explore creating outfits with 3d printing, among other things. He also plans to research the ecological implications of the need to recycle space clothes, and he\u2019ll interview former astronauts from the International Space Station, scientists on Antarctic bases and submariners about wearing clothes in isolated and sometimes harsh conditions.<\/p>\n


\nIf all goes as planned, he hopes to have prototypes for a space simulation in 2014 and, in coming years, for the International Space Station, where someone would actually wear the clothing for weeks or months to test hygiene, durability and recycling possibilities.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m very excited to look into the current research on anti-microbials and recyclable fabrics, as well as the behavioral and cultural issues concerning clothing,\u201d he says. \u201cPrototyping will not only be very cool, but also absolutely necessary. You can only theorize so much when it comes to something as integral to human behavior and identity as clothing. The actual experience of wearing it, the feel and comfort \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013 happens over time. This will be just as important to figure out as the technical aspects of hygiene and recycling, especially when considering very long-term missions.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nCurrently, astronauts at the International Space Station wear polo shirts and cargo pants, with lots of pockets. Dirty clothes and trash are put into a \u201csupply craft\u201d that burns up on re-entry into the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n


\nThat works efficiently, because so few people are involved and the time in space is relatively short. But long space trips are expected to have hundreds of people and last decades, possibly a lifetime. Aspelund says it\u2019s unwise to assume that clothing on these missions can be tossed out in the same way. There\u2019s simply too much dirty laundry and no opportunity for resupply.<\/p>\n


\nSpace explorers also need to think about ways to clean, recycle and repair clothes in space, Aspelund says. Material is important too. Maybe there\u2019s an alternative to cotton and polyester; some scientists are already experimenting with sprays that cover the body. \u201cWe may need to retire the whole idea of clothing as we know it,\u201d Aspelund says.<\/p>\n


\n\tEarthlings can also benefit from Aspelund\u2019s research. Lessons about reducing the ecological footprint in space can be applied to developed and underdeveloped countries. \u201cIt\u2019s not all just about space,\u201d he says. \u201cBringing the research back to Earth is the real kicker.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tWhat he finds can be key to continuing survival on this planet. \u201cIf we can create a closed-loop ecosystem in space that is self-sufficient in its use of materials, water and energy, we can transfer the solutions to Earth. Solving the problem within the severe constraints of a community on Mars allows the creation of sustainable communities on our home planet. Solutions will be applicable in Cambridge or Kalahari. To me, that\u2019s no less exciting than the idea of contributing to a mission to one of Jupiter\u2019s moons.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFinally, his research should nudge space explorers into thinking about what kind of community they want to create on these long missions. Sure, you need someone who can drive the ship, but what about having creative souls, like writers and poets, on board? More important, what will they wear?<\/p>\n


\nClothes and fabric have fascinated Aspelund since childhood. Raised in Iceland, he remembers watching his grandparents at a cutting table turn cloth into garments. His grandfather, Thorhallur, was a tailor; his grandmother, Gudrun, was a seamstress.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWorking with fabric is in my blood,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a very natural progression to design and create.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHe received a bachelor\u2019s degree in theater design at the Wimbledon College of Art in London in 1986 and eventually moved to the United States. He worked for eight years as a designer in the studio of the Providence-based artist Brower Hatcher, a nationally acclaimed sculptor.

\nIn 1996, Aspelund started teaching in the Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design department. He earned his doctorate in anthropology and material culture in 2011 from Boston University. His dissertation, an examination of women\u2019s national dress in Iceland, won the Boston University Professor\u2019s Edmonds Prize for best dissertation in 2010-11. He is also the author of two books, \u201cFashioning Society\u201d and \u201cThe Design Process.\u201d A third book, an introduction to design, will be published within a year.<\/p>\n


\nFor the record, he speaks Icelandic.<\/p>\n


\nPhoto above: Karl Aspelund, an assistant professor of design at the 溏心vlog免费B站 who is researching how to design, make and maintain clothing in space.\t<\/p>\n


\nPhoto courtesy of Michael Salerno Photography.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warwick resident receives grant to study space clothing KINGSTON, RI \u2013 May 30, 2013 \u2013 You\u2019re packing for a long trip to Mars and suddenly the anxiety hits: What to wear? You could suit up in bulky white duds or consider the advice of a 溏心vlog免费B站 professor: washable, recyclable clothes. Karl […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}