Orbital Skydiving Holoprogram including protective suit, Page 2

screenshots, scans and soundfiles by Janet
pictures are from [#97 Extreme Risk] unless otherwise stated

ORBITAL SKYDIVING HOLOPROGRAM
including orbital skydiving suit
PAGE 2

CONTENTS

Page 1 Torres goes orbital skydiving on the holodeck.
Why Torres created the holoprogram.

This Page The orbital skydiving suit.
Behind-the-scenes.

THE ORBITAL SKYDIVING SUIT

The skydiving suit is designed for a human (the helmet would not fit a humanoid unless their head was the same size or smaller compared with an adult human's). Likewise the protective gloves - someone with larger hands or substantially smaller hands or with other than four human fingers and a thumb would have to replicate a variation on the design of the gloves. The suit modelled in the screenshots was no doubt replicated specifically by and for B'Elanna Torres. It is important in the sport of orbital skydiving that the single-piece protective suit, protective helmet, and a harness containing the landing system, all fit the user properly and snugly. This is important even in a holodeck program where the atmospheric conditions are simulated, because the suit must be the same as one used during a jump in real exospheric conditions.

The orbital skydiving suit is worn over normal clothing and consists of a highly flexible and ribbed black material onto which are mounted areas of sectional protective plating.

close-up of the ribbed material at the neckline

The plating is made up of individual blue- coloured squares manufactured from a lightweight alloy.

The hands are protected by a pair of shielded gloves which have been specially designed to allow the user to open and close the visor of their helmet and not impede the flexible use of their fingers which could otherwise be the case due to the very thick material.

close-up showing lower part of helmet and also right glove The plating is positioned in such a way as to permit the maximum amount of movement for the wearer while still protecting the most vital sections of the body.
The feet are protected by a pair of lightweight yet resilient and sturdy boots.

The underside of the helmet has a single strip of protective squares running around its base, creating an effective seal between the upper chest plate and the bottom of the helmet. This prevents any injury to the neck that might result from any debris present in the atmosphere.
side view of helmet showing the protective squares around its base

another picture to show the helmet's protective squares

click to see full-size image
this picture appears on Page 1, click to see it again full size There is protective shielding all across the front of the chest of the garment and down to the lower abdomen. That shielding is particularly important as the front of the body forms the leading edge of the skydiver during a jump. The upper arms and shoulders also have protection, although the inside of the arms are only protected by the ribbed suit. At the beginning of a jump, after the vessel on which the skydiver is travelling in has levelled off (in Torres' holoprogram, this vessel is a Federation shuttlecraft with a side exit), the skydiver exits the vessel. The height at which Torres orders the holographic pilot to level off at is 300,000 metres (TOSTFF incorrectly states "kilometers"), which is higher than is regarded as safe in the orbital skydiving sport. Indeed, when Torres ordered the holo-pilot to take the holo-shuttlecraft higher, he replies: "Lieutenant, we're already at 200,000 metres. You could thermalise at this altitude."

When the skydiver goes to exit the vessel, they stand by the open exit and order the forcefield dropped. The skydiver then exits the vessel head-first with arms angled upward and facing forward either side of the head. This start position is held for a few seconds until clear of the drop ship.

The arms are then brought to either side of the body, and the skydiver effectively becomes a streamlined missile, increasing speed and falling head-first toward the surface of the chosen planet. The lack of armour around the arms and along the sides of the body is significant since it allows a more streamline shape to be maintained, although the armour on the outer edges of the arms and forearms affords the maximum protection to the user in this position.

The skydiver usually carries on the back, and so covering the back and offering more protection, a small black rectangular backpack. The backpack contains the environmental controls for the suit and the landing mechanism.

Only the base of the spine, inner thighs and backs of the legs, down to the boots, are protected by the armour. The backpack is held in place by two sturdy straps that cross over the shoulders and connect around the front of the suit, which minimises the amount of drag produced during the fall. At such extreme altitudes, due to the lack of atmosphere, the skydiver requires breathable air, and that is supplied by the backpack and suit.

The suit also filters out harmful solar radiation, and contains a heating system since it is extremely cold at high altitude. There do not seem to be any external controls situated on the arm or hand units for the environmental controls, such as exist on Starfleet's resilient Standard Extra-vehicular Work Garment (SEWG) also known as an environmental suit (Torres is first seen wearing one in [#71 Day Of Honor]). The lack of environmental controls for the skydiving suit in such a convenient place as the suit's arm or wrist suggests that the controls may either be automatic and/or that they are adjusted via voice command through the intercom built into the helmet.

The orbital skydiving suit's helmet is a large oversize single-piece unit which fits snugly around the user's head due to its contoured inner lining. As mentioned above, Torres doubtless replicated one specifically to fit her. The helmet is constructed from a lightweight reinforced compound, and the polished exterior affords a streamlined shape designed to minimise drag. The bulkiness of the helmet at the top and rear of the head would afford additional protection should the skydiver's fall go wrong close to the planet surface and they suffer a fall on those parts.

putting on the helmet and lowering the visor

The visor is designed to afford the maximum possibility for the wearer, and can be worn up off the face when the helmet is not actually in use for a skydiving jump.

helmet on and visor down, program inactive, note the gloves

The readiness of the suit's functions are defined by a small circular diode at the front of the helmet. The diode changes from red to white when the visor is clipped into place, and a small sealing sound is audible at that point. Once the visor is down, the helmet pressurises the suit's systems. Until the forcefield is deactivated to enable the skydiver to leave the drop ship, the skydiver is breathing the atmosphere of the drop ship's pressurised interior, and they have to be prepared for the impact of exterior conditions once the forcefield is deactivated for the drop.

The skydiver is then able to commence the jump and leap out into space through the designated door or hatchway of the drop ship.

Air is fed from a self-contained reserve in the backpack harness to the helmet via a small hose which connects to the right of the helmet's underside, and the interior has its own low-level illumination during the dive. The helmet also possesses a de-mister unit in order that the skydiver's spectacular view is not impeded.

Communication with other skydivers or with the drop zone is maintained through the internal microphone and the headset worn by the user.
The intercom system produces a volume high enough to enable someone transmitting to be heard above the tremendously loud rushing sound that the skydiver hears while diving, this being the atmospheric conditions outside rushing past.
Within USS Voyager's holodeck, this also allows Torres to have contact with Chakotay via ship's communications when he signals her to report to Engineering, whereupon she ends the program.
She positions her body so as to come to rest upright in the holodeck as the program ends. Then she raises her visor, leaves the empty holodeck and shortly afterwards removes the helmet altogether.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES

The opening scenes of [Star Trek VII: Generations] were originally planned to show Captain James T. Kirk engaging in orbital skydiving, but the scenes were cut from the final film. Kirk's protective suit was later modified for Torres to wear in [#97 Extreme Risk].

picture from the cut scene, picture source TNG Continuing Mission

CONTENTS
Page 1	Torres goes orbital skydiving on the holodeck. Why Torres created the holoprogram.
This Page	The orbital skydiving suit. Behind-the-scenes.