Campaign:NHNE/Equipment/Vacc Suit

A protective, sealed clothing suit able to operate in a vacuum

Description

Vacc Suits (or Vacuum Suits) have always been available in the New Earth System as many arrived on each of the colony ships. These ancient suits are now museum pieces, and are what would be now called Belter-Style suits.

Old-Style Suits

Old-Style suits are bulky, clunky to use but ultra-reliable. However they do require a level of expertise to operate effectively. Most are manufactured on the major planets, but they are being quite rapidly superseded by the new Belter-Style. The one major disadvantage of the old-style suits is that they have terrible radiation protection.

Belter-Style Suits

Belter-Style suits are much easier to use than the Old-Style models, but do require adjustment before those benefits can be fully realised. Using a generic, unadjusted suit - or one that belongs to someone else - can make them just as clunky as their old-style cousins.

Hazardous Environment Vacc Suits

Hazardous Environment Vacc Suits are the radiation-protected versions of old-style suits with all the disadvantages of the standard variety.

Hostile Environment Vacc Suits

Hostile Environment Vacc Suits use Belter techniques to improve on the older models and increase the protection provided but don't make them less cumbersome.

Sulphur Suit

So called because they were specifically designed for operation on Sulphur, these are hand-made suits that really gain the benefits of the Belter-Style Suit while retaining/improving upon the protection of the Hostile Environment Vacc Suit. They are manufactured by specialist suppliers on Poseidon and in Touchdown and are very expensive.

Combat Armour

These are hard-armoured Vacc Suits used by the various militaries of the New Earth System. They are not available for general use but are occasionally seen in specialist civilian or para-military hands. These generally have the disadvantages of the more bulky types of Vacc Suit but their protection is much sought-after

Recent Developments

The Belt is rumoured to be producing an advanced version of their belter-style suit, and to be re-working their Combat Armour along similar lines.

Examples

• Belt Industries Hi-Tech Vacc Suit

Legal Requirements

For a Vacc Suit to be legally sold, it must be capable of supporting the wearer for 6 hours in a Vacuum and must have a radio with a range of at least 5km. Some jurisdictions also require collision avoidance lights on civilian suits.

Limitations

Vacc Suits are very effective at preventing radiative heat loss/gain, and the feet and hands are generally well protected against conductive heat loss. The rest of the suit may lose heat very quickly to conductive heat loss and wearers should be aware of this when using suits in an atmosphere.

n.b. Combat Armour is weather resistant. Not all Vacc Suits are, having been designed for operation in the water/liquid/mud-free environment of space.

Additional Capabilities

Manufacturers supply additional equipment for suits. The New Earth System has a standardised system for these add-ons so any add-on unit will be compatible with any suit. These add-ons include:-

• Thruster Packs
• Magnetic Grips
• Extended Life Support Packs
• Tether Lines
• Equipment Belts
• Internal Medkits
• On-Board Computers
• Emergency Re-entry Cocoons

Many Vacc Suits will come in bright colours because of the safety concerns of their wearers. Some military versions come with IR suppression and active camouflage surfaces. Some recent versions seen include the surface active colour management systems of the military active camouflage but use these for painting patterns and images on the suit surface.