Gas pressurized suits are stuck with a linear trade: Higher suit pressure cuts prebreathe time, while making every
motion taken on EVA harder. Lower suit pressure buys mobility on EVA at the expense of time wasted sitting in the
airlock during prebreathe to get down to ~4.3psi @ 100% Oxygen. As long as your breathing gas is also your compression source, you can't win.
Mechanical counterpressure (MCP)
breaks that coupling. The counter-intuitive truth is that you don’t need a gas bubble around the whole body
for health; you need adequate pressure on tissues and breathable gas at the mucous membranes.
Apply ~4.3 psi of mechanical pressure to skin, keep a normal breathing environment at the face and ears,
and the body doesn't care. This was demonstrated decades ago in Webb’s
Space Activity Suit (SAS)
vacuum-chamber tests and is well-documented in NASA literature.
This matters because decoupling breathing from compression lets you have normal cabin and EVA atmosphere
without the prebreathe penalties, while also recovering the mobility that the gas bladder and suit bulk steals.
Our mechanical counterpressure layer applies the required compression load without fighting mobility.
- 3D scans allow for a perfect per-astronaut fit, so pressure lands exactly where it's needed
- Low-elasticity, directionally tuned textile that is flexible, inelastic in directions where that's needed (such as the hoop around a limb), and extendable where it's needed (such as along the outside of a joint)
The target is the same spacesuit we all design to: ~>4psi across the body, breathing gas, protection from thermals and micrometeorites, but while adding back what gas bladder suits take away: mobility, simple operations, light-weight, and easy don/doff.
Legacy anti-G protection inflates bladders around the lower body and abdomen. It works, but you pay for it:
non-uniform pressure fields, poor fit, inflation dynamics that lag rapid onset, and heat/comfort penalties over long profiles.
Our approach is mechanical compression that hits the physiology directly. A scan-fit, low-profile, low-elasticity,
directionally tuned textile maps sustained pressure to calf, thigh, and abdomen with far superior spatial control
than bladders. The goal isn’t more psi, it's superior fit and comfort, while maintaining eye-level blood pressure
as needed, with only as much pressure as you need, and no discomfort when you don't need pressure.
This matters because decoupling breathing from compression lets you have normal cabin and EVA atmosphere
without the prebreathe penalties, while also recovering the mobility that the gas bladder and suit bulk steals.
Our mechanical counterpressure layer applies the required compression load without fighting mobility.
- 3D scans allow for a perfect per-pilot fit, so pressure lands exactly where it's needed
- Low-elasticity, directionally tuned textile: inelastic where load must carry (e.g., limb hoop), extensible where motion demands (e.g., across joint arcs)
The target is the same anti-G outcome everyone designs to: hold ELBP and prevent G-LOC through aggressive profiles, while adding back what pneumatic systems cost: even pressure, less heat, lower workload, and simple, trivial don/doff.