Will far-future astronauts require spacesuits of any kind? At the point at which we have wireless connections for headphones, computers, and countless other gizmos, could we imagine some future date in which the tech of EVA suits might be replaced with something a little less analog? In 1973, in the first episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series — “Beyond the Farthest Star” — the crew of the USS Enterprise rocked something called “Life Support Belts” instead of straight-up spacesuits. In the 23rd Century, these portable force fields replaced the need for bulky spacesuits, but vanished from Trek canon.
But now, in the 32nd Century, the no-suit spacesuit is back. Here’s how Starfleet Academy has brought back the force field spacesuit in the form of “plasma shields.”
