Environmental suit

AT: "xx" An environmental suit, also known as an EV suit or pressure suit, is a special form of clothing designed to be used for protection or life support in inhospitable environments.

With the advent of space travel came the need to perform tasks outside the controlled atmosphere of the space vessels. For this purpose, the EV suit was developed. As planets and other stellar objects came within the reach of Human space explorers, the EV suit became a necessity for exploring environments with different atmospheric conditions than those on Earth.

History

During the launch of the Phoenix in 2063, the use of space suits seemed optional. Zefram Cochrane and his copilots did not wear any pressure or flight suits. He made history by making First Contact with an alien species after the Phoenix had ended its flight. (Star Trek: First Contact)

22nd century

File:NX-program-flight-suit.jpg

NX Program flight suit

In the 2140s, Vulcan EV suits were relatively large. Jonathan Archer once commented that the experience of wearing one was "like you're flying around inside your own little starship." (ENT: "Breaking the Ice")

In the middle of the 22nd century, Starfleet tested the new warp five engine in the NX Program. The test pilots of the NX-Alpha and NX-Beta starships used only unpressurized flight suits.

A new NX-class EV suit was introduced as standard issue on the Enterprise NX-01, the first ship of the new NX-class. These suits were copper colored with gray padding, and were comprised of several components.

Helmet

The design of the helmet allowed an almost normal field of view to the wearer. Though the vertical field of view was limited to eight degrees, the amount of room inside the helmet allowed the wearer to compensate by simply moving his or her head. The helmet had a clear visor integrated into the front that could not be opened separately. It featured two outside lights, one on either side, and two ambient lights inside to illuminate the wearer's face. When the helmet was sealed, the ambient lights would activate. A small earphone was attached to the helmet which the wearer could insert in his or her ear, making it possible to stay in contact with a ship or other space vehicle.

Located on the back of the helmet were the air hoses to the oxygen supply and an electrical connector for the light, communication, and propulsion units. The helmet connected to the life support and propulsion unit via a secondary connection ring and not to the EV suit directly. Padding within the helmet made sure the wearer could not touch the visor with his or her face.

EV suit

File:EV suit, 22nd century.jpg

22nd century EV suit

The EV suit was made as one full piece that closed at the front via a zip fastener and ended just below the elbow. The suit was self-sealing, meaning that if it were punctured or damaged in some way, sealant would be automatically applied to prevent the suit from decompressing. Although the suit was solid enough to protect its wearer from the rigors of space, a hypospray could still penetrate it in case of an emergency. Even with the heavy padding and protection, the suit could only protect its wearer against a neutronic wavefront for about twenty-two minutes.

See also

• Under suit

Life support and propulsion

The life support and propulsion unit (or "LSPU") consisted of a hard upper torso body-shell and a harness. This unit contained the essentials for survival in space: communication equipment, oxygen, propulsion unit, EV controls, and the power supply. It was padded to give the wearer some extra comfort. The LSPU also held an extra oxygen hose for refilling or sharing the oxygen supply. This extra hose allowed oxygen to be replenished from any device that held liquid oxygen, provided the physical connection would fit.

On the front of the unit, the following switches were present: communications, oxygen transfer, lighting and propulsion activation.

On the back were the incoming and outgoing oxygen connections. These hoses were fastened via a bayonet joint to prevent accidental release. Below one of the oxygen connections was an air supply indicator, divided into eight equal parts. This indicated the level of oxygen by means of color coding – green, yellow and red. In 2154, this air supply indicator was removed and replaced by an analog indicator on the right side of the LSPU. The back of the unit also contained an electrical cord, which transferred power and communications from the LSPU to the electrical connector at the back of the helmet.

The harness consisted of two leg bands that were connected to each other via a belt that was also used to hold small tools as necessary. The LSPU was secured to the harness at four attachment points to keep the unit in place.

In the script for ENT: "Fight or Flight", the belt was established as being magnetic.

Gloves

The gloves had five digits and were connected to the EV suit via a zip fastener just below the elbow. They were also self-sealing.

Boots

The boots were made out of the same material as the EV suit and could be magnetized. (ENT: "Minefield", "Babel One")

Starship use

On the NX-class starships, at least six EV suits were present. Senior officers and some security personnel had their own suits, while the rest of the suits were shared for general use. (ENT: "The Catwalk", "The Crossing")

23rd century

File:Psi2000laboratory.jpg

23rd century Special Environmental Protection Suit

During the 23rd century, the EV suit had considerably advanced from the primitive suits of the century before. There were different types of suits for different environments, but only one of them was standard issue for Federation starships and various Federation facilities like the Elba II asylum. These EV suit were significantly more flexible than their predecessors before and less bulky. Late in the 23rd century, the standard issue EV suit changed dramatically.

Helmet

The helmets of the standard-issue EV suits were taller and more spacious, yet still smaller than their 22nd century counterpart. The clear, fixed visor was much more vast and took up a majority of the helmet. It stretched from the front of the helmet, all the way to the back. A strange ambiguous light emanated from the bottom of the helmet and upward for the occupant to see. Late in the 23rd century, the helmets became more domed with the visor facing forward. These helmets were also spacious and allowed a lot of head room.

EV suit

EV Space Suit 2268.jpg

23rd century standard issue Federation EV suit

Clark Terrell and Pavel Chekov in environmental suits.jpg

EV suit ca. 2285

The EV suit was a chromo-metallic and form-fitting one-piece suit with a white belt that fastened around the waist. A phaser could be either holstered or attached to the white belt, depending on the severity of the away mission. The helmet was detachable and the name tag of the occupant could be seen on it. The upper chest and neck area of the suit had a built-in communicator. Late in the 23rd century, the EV suit generally remained the same except the color varied.

Thruster suit

Spock in a thruster suit after detaching the thruster

A thruster suit was an environmental suit, that could be equipped with a detachable thruster pack for use to travel short distances, and has been in use among other Starfleet personnel at the Epsilon IX station as well as the drydock where the upgraded USS Enterprise was refurnished.

A short time later, Spock utilized such a suit with a thruster unit, when entering and exploring the V'ger entity in the early 2270s. James T. Kirk subsequently used a thruster suit to retrieve Spock. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Life support and propulsion

All life support and propulsion systems were interwoven together as part of the EV suit in order to function better in hostile environments. Later in the 23rd century, propulsion relied upon a jet propulsion pack that was placed on the back of the EV suit. The jet propulsion pack was detachable.

Gloves

The gloves had five digits and were connected to the EV suit. They were detachable and fastened just below the elbow.

Boots

Each EV suit came with magnetic boots made out of the same material as the EV suit.

Alternate reality

In the alternate reality created by Nero's incursion, there was at least one type of EV suit in use in the 2250s. The suit was available in all three division colors with a Starfleet insignia displayed prominently in the center of the chest piece and featured breathing equipment, including a helmet and oxygen, for use outside of Class M environments. It could also be equipped with a parachute for orbital skydiving missions. (Star Trek)

Operations, Sciences and Command suits

2258 EV suit parachute.jpg

Parachute design

Spock in a heat-resistant suit during an away mission

A similar, copper-colored suit was highly heat-resistant. It could even be worn amidst a volcano. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Into Darkness Costume Designer Michael Kaplan said of this costume, "I just thought copper was a very underused material. It probably doesn't make sense logically, since copper conducts heat better than anything else, but I just liked how it tarnished and burned and changed from having a beautiful, shiny look." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 028) After Kaplan designed this metallic armor-like costume, it was worn by Zachary Quinto and his stunt double on the film, Daniel Stevens. The suit was also replicated as a three-dimensional CGI model by Industrial Light & Magic. (Cinefex, No. 134, p. 78)

During special emergencies, officers employed special suits with maneuverable propulsion thrusters to facilitate travel through open space. These suits also contained a holographic navigation module in the helmet visor. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Command variant thruster suit.

Propulsion unit in use

24th century

Hawk, Picard, and Worf on a spacewalk under the hull of the USS Enterprise-E

By the 24th century, the EV suit had changed into a white tight-fitting suit. Some pieces of the suit were gender-specific, allowing a more customized fit than some of the previous suits. Some suits could be folded for storage in a container inside a cargo bay. (TNG: "The Hunted")

Helmet

Elim Garak wearing a 24th century EV suit

The helmet was smaller than its 22nd century counterpart but retained the clear and fixed visor. Inside, two ambient lights were present on each side of the helmet to illuminate the wearer's face. Audio equipment, like a microphone and speaker, were integrated.

EV suit

The EV suit was made as one part and was not self-sealing.

Life support

The life support unit consisted of a hard upper-torso body-shell, which was different for men and women. This unit contained the essentials for survival: communication equipment, oxygen, EV controls, power supply, and again an extra oxygen hose that made it possible to share oxygen. Alerts were available visibly via the color-coded EV controls and also by audio.

Under normal conditions, an EV suit would provide approximately twenty-four hours of oxygen. (VOY: "Day of Honor")

Gloves

The gloves had five digits and were connected to the EV suit via a self-sealing mechanism.

Boots

The boots were made out of the same material as the EV suit and could be magnetized. (Star Trek: First Contact; VOY: "Prey")

Back-up system

Tom Paris and Harry Kim were kept alive by the backup system of their environmental suits, by "keeping their vital functions going" while unconscious. The system kicked in due to an environmental seal in their suits had been compromised, depleting the oxygen. (VOY: "Demon")

Use

In 2366, the escaped Angosian prisoner Roga Danar hid a pressure suit he found inside a cargo bay container to cause USS Enterprise-D personnel to think he would use it to leave the starship through an airlock or torpedo tube. Security chief Worf, however, was not fooled and waited for Danar to reappear. Danar fought with Worf and escaped anyway, assisted by prior acts of sabotage on Danar's part. (TNG: "The Hunted")

Jean-Luc Picard, Worf, and Hawk each made use of EV suits while in the year 2063 to stop the Borg from using the USS Enterprise-E's deflector dish as a transmitter. (Star Trek: First Contact)

Appendices

Appearances

• TOS:
  • "The Naked Time"
  • "Court Martial" (remastered)
  • "The Tholian Web"
  • "Whom Gods Destroy"
• Star Trek films:
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
  • Star Trek: First Contact
  • Star Trek
  • Star Trek Into Darkness
• TNG: "The Hunted"
• DS9: "Empok Nor"
• VOY:
  • "Day of Honor"
  • "Prey"
  • "Demon"
  • "One Small Step"
  • "Workforce"
  • "Friendship One"

See also

• Isolation suit
• Life support belt
• Refrigeration suit

Background information

• For further information on the design and miniature used in The Motion Picture,

see: Thruster suit model

Three repairmen in EV suits outside Deep Space 9

• The EV suits seen in Star Trek: First Contact and several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager were created and provided by Christopher Gilman and his prop company Global Effects, Inc.; the helmet was provided from another company.

• With the beginning of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's fourth season the opening sequence was changed and included a cargo management unit and three repairmen in EV suits. These elements were executed as CGI effects by ILM's John Knoll, who, while preparing for the pre-production of Star Trek: First Contact, pitched in with the work for the sequence out of courtesy, "I made about half a dozen little bits and pieces for the sequence, including a generic alien ship with blue glowy engines." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p.335)

External links

• Environmental suit at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Environmental suit at Wikipedia
• Space suit at Wikipedia