Mars spacesuits must be 40% lighter — current suits are too heavy for the Red Planet

NASA and industry engineers presenting at the 55th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES) concluded that the newest generation of spacesuits are too heavy for use on Mars. Because Martian gravity is only 3/8ths of Earth's, suits need to be 40% lighter than current models. Without that reduction, astronauts would be unable to operate effectively on the Martian surface.