15 Aug New Technology: NASA’s Firefighting Suits
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (NASA) are typically known for their ventures into the final frontier. Their innovative technology which protects humans from the harsh conditions of space, can also protect firefighters from the hazardous environments they are often exposed to.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been elevated in effectiveness due to innovations in fabric, fabric layering and additional cooling and movement features that are continually brought to the innovative suits.
Whether this comes in the form of effective head torches, or clearing dark areas. Looser material around particular joints, allowing for a wider range of motion, or layered fabrics that catch toxins in the air, as to cause those toxins to not break into the suit itself, PPE has constantly innovated and benefitted from companies entering the marketplace, and pushing forward the PPE market competition.
Recently, NASA has introduced new technology to the firefighting field, including that better protective suit fabrics, better insulation, and heat-resistant upgrades to existing machinery and tech. NASA has also participated to the continued evolution of firefighting suits, through the aforementioned layered fabrics, and double coatings of protection to ensure hazardous chemicals are kept at bay.
NASA has developed a means of transporting these suits in a compact manner, resulting in more ability to be transported and allowing the suits to be quicker to deploy.
Innovations from Space Agencies such as NASA, push forward the fire marketplace on a global level, impacting technology used by Middle Eastern firefighting forces, helping them to deal with the high-temperature fires teams are consistently dealing with, within the region.