China's Space Program Thread II

[taxiya]

Well, they already performed EVA with this suit

Leaning out of your window is not walking on the street. What SpaceX suit did is even less impressive than the first space walk conducted by Soviet who wore a modified launch and entry suit. So were the American's first. Non of them are regarded by USSR or US as EVA suit. All these launch and entry suits are to provide pressure and air supply in case of emergency. When deployed they are as stiff as a ballon, it can keep you alive but not doing anything remotely close to an EVA suit.

See how Axiom categorize it, (so are everybody else). For comparison Mercury suit is as thin as SpaceX suit.

 

[taxiya]

Is it just me or the US suit seems to be more bulky/heavy compared to Chinese suit?
The woman on US suit has to be helped and use stick to squat and kneel while the Chinese one doesn't have to be helped.

Two things to consider. The suit is very heavy, it is meant to be used on moon with only 1/6th gravity than earth. So squating or kneeling while carrying 10 to 20kg is difficult for most well excersized men, let alone for a thin women. Majority of average people would need assistance to get up. In the official Axiom demo video, the man used a staff as well.

The other thing to consider is that the kneel, thigh and waist joints in China's suit may be different design from Axiom. It may be more flexible. If you can bend further forward, you can lift heavier weight, like how a weight lifter does. However, it can not be confirmed because the Chinese demo video is very short and from limited angles.

[addition]
The third thing to consider is that the Chinese demo might use a weight reduced verion other than a real production version to give the real feeling of moving on the moon. The backpack could be empty. The Axiom demo and the woman try on was in a production version which is too heavy without assistance.

 

[taxiya]

For anyone interested in the difference of US and Chinese moon suit. Why Chinese suit seems to be more easier to squat and kneel, check these two videos.
Axiom 23:05 squat

Chinese 0:28 squat

Repeat watching the 2 seconds of movement, you will see that Chinese suit has one joint just above the kneel while the Axiom does not have or the joint is severely limited by the fabric. They both have joints at the upper end of the theigh where the fabric is not continious, one can see the fabric being separated and disalign while moving. This is true to the lower joint above the kneel in Chinese suite, but the Axiom suit seems to have the fabric in continious piece to the boot. It is easy to see in Chinese suit because the red strip is broken when moving. It is hard to see in Axiom due to its dark color and no strip but looking carefully and repeatedly one can still see.

Here is an illustration of the joints. Axiom suit lack the break of fabric at the place indicated by cyan colorred line in the Chinese suit.


So I think this can prove the second point that I made in post #4,732 above, Chinese suit has a different design in joints. In short Chinese kneel joint has two planes of mobility while Axiom has one. This point alone is enough to explain the whole easiness without the other reasonning (lighter built version).