Bet the Developers never thought of this horrifying experience...

[lajoswinkler]

Sure, but it might be difficult to know exactly where the leak was unless somebody else could see it. Visibility isn't great in a space suit, they'd really only be able to see their own arms and parts of their torso and legs via a mirror.

If it was a decent sized chunk I guess you'd put your hand on the bit that felt like you'd been hit with a baseball bat.

Micrometeoroids' relative speeds are measured in tens of kilometres per second. I'd say you'd feel like you've been shot at with a really superpowerful gun. The consequences would be pretty much the same. Sudden sharp pain and bleeding. Depressurization. Wound boiling.

[Brapness]

Howdy, now as we all know space is can can be a terrifying place to be being it's cold and dark and of course there's no air... but when you're working inside a space suit, the only thing you have to worry about is running out of air right?

Wrong...

Saw a story today about one of the astronauts this last month who had a very harrowing experience as his helmet slowly filled with water (odds oaare either his suit's coolant system sprang a leak or he was really sweating..

But this guy almost drowned in sapce..

And we thought a leak in a space suit was bad.. but drowning in fluids inside your own helmet? I mean how do those kerbals breathe? they don't have noses, but they do have mouths...

SO yeah it's possible to drown in space..

Bet none of the devs considered that idea..

Space_Coyote..

Ssssshhhhh! You'll give the Kraken ideas!

[Tiron]

Why were those kinky suits not developed more? Troubles with breathing?

There's been some problems getting all the bugs worked out. Here's a rundown, copied from The Wiki, of issues with one of the older ones.

A number of problems also turned up, primarily related to the problem of keeping the suit in strong mechanical contact at every point on the body. Concavities or small folds in the fabric could lead to fluid pooling in the gaps; the groin area proved extremely difficult to tailor successfully. To correct this, small pads of polyurethane foam were inserted into concavities and were successful in most problem areas. The suits had to be tailored to each individual, although the same was true of all space suits of the era. The largest difficulty was donning and removing the suit. In order to effectively provide the minimum pressure of 29.6 kilopascals (220 mmHg; 4.3 psi) necessary for human physiology, the suit had to be extremely tight-fitting, making donning and doffing a highly strenuous task.

They're easier to move around in once you get it on, and puncture testing showed that up to a square millimeter of skin could be exposed by a puncture without any 'permanent effects'. But harder to get on.

The chief problems remain as they were in the late 60s/early 70s: Keeping the pressure uniform on all parts of the body, accommodating the natural change in shape of parts of the body as they're moved, and getting the appropriate level of pressure without making getting in the thing a complete chore.

As far as the 'breathing' thing goes, keep in mind that a normal space suit is generally pressurized to 4.7 psi. It's actually LESS pressure being exerted on the body than in a normal space suit, it's just mechanical instead of air pressure.

The chief designer back then had this to say on the subject, in the final Report:

In conclusion, the SAS at its present stage of development will protect man from the effects of the vacuum environment, in a garment, which permits improved mobility and natural body movements. Physiologically the approach is sound, and although there remain many problems to be solved, they are principally mechanical in nature. It has been suggested that solution of the mechanical problems, combined with careful tailoring based upon biomechanical analysis, plus the development of specific elastic fabrics, could eventually lead to a space qualified version of the SAS.

Development's never really actually stopped: MIT's *still* working on improved versions.

Edited August 24, 2013 by Tiron

[Duxwing]

Sure, but it might be difficult to know exactly where the leak was unless somebody else could see it. Visibility isn't great in a space suit, they'd really only be able to see their own arms and parts of their torso and legs via a mirror.

If it was a decent sized chunk I guess you'd put your hand on the bit that felt like you'd been hit with a baseball bat.

The micrometeorite may be just a grain of dust, but if it punches through all the Kevlar of your space-suit, then it likely has enough kinetic energy hit your flesh.

-Duxwing

[joethebeast22]

i think a tiny chance of craft malfunctions in KSP could add a nice challenge

[Tiron]

i think a tiny chance of craft malfunctions in KSP could add a nice challenge

Only if it were optional. A lot of people would end up just reloading their last quicksave if something broke spontaneously. For people that don't find the challenge interesting (and maybe at times even for those that do), it'd just be tedious and frustrating.

I'm pretty sure the devs already said it wasn't going to happen, though.