As posted a couple of days ago August is going to be a very interesting and busy month. The work on space capsule Tycho Deep Space II is really progressing and things will become even more interesting when we get a visit by DIY spacesuit guys Cameron Smith and John Haslett from Oregon in the US.

Along with the capsule itself, the suit is the one component really identifying the project as manned and not just regular small amateur rocketry.

Today I had another great Skype-talk with Cameron. We have been brainstorming ideas and sharing thoughts for almost a year now but things got really crazy when we decided to join our efforts about 6 months ago. Some of the thoughts and ideas can be seen here in our mutual Reddit AMA session.

Developing spacesuits and matching interior space capsule design is doable over the Internet, however nothing beats meeting face to face so Cameron Smith and John Haslett will be here in Copenhagen August 19-28 and there is much to do besides shaking hands and mutual joy and fun.

Together with Cameron we have planned these events:

- A couple of days of handshaking, suit demonstrations and donning-tests

- Working a sea-prototype throughout the entire stay.

- High altitude chamber test

- Free-fall test at Copenhagen Air Experience

- Ingress/Egress testing

- Press-related matters

- Discussing high-altitude balloon-testing with space capsule seat in Denmark

- A bit of beer-drinking

So far, I have gotten a date from Copenhagen Air Experience to perform a free fall test with future astronaut Peter Madsen and perhaps also Cameron. There are still technical issues to be worked out since they are probably not going to accept having long hoses of air and cooling liquid going into to free fall chamber. Cameron suggested that we pressurize the suit and detach the hoses but since you heat up in no time we might have to create some kind of cooling system to be attached the suit.

Copenhagen Air Experience

For the high altitude chamber I still have to fix a date and we have to figure out how to get body-measurement data out through the suit which is required by the medical personnel. The chamber is normally used to perform over 4000 treatments a year on patients using high pressure but it also has the capability to become a high altitude chamber.

Both Cameron and I are particularly looking forward to an entire period of seating design. This is the one thing that is difficult to perform over the Internet. Having Cameron and John there doing the design with me and René is a must. The idea is to create a rough geometrical prototype which match both the interior of the capsule and fits all ergonomic demands for operations, general seating and ingress/egress.

Today I fixed the hatch opening geometry and tomorrow I will attach it on to the boilerplate. The opening is still Ø 550 mm to match the interior structure but if it does not match suit access into the capsule we will change it.

I am really excited and so are the rest of Copenhagen Suborbitals.

It’s not every day you get such cool visitors and long live international DIY-cooperation!

Please also enjoy this great interview with Cameron Smith by DIY-girl Julie Sabatier

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Kristian von Bengtson