Anti-Glare Space Suit Visors and Spacecraft Windows

Astronauts are blinded by the intense contrast between objects exposed to the sun, and objects in the shade. Current space suit sun visors and spacecraft windows are inadequate because they attenuate all rays uniformly; they reduce glare but in the process, they also obscure dim objects, making them invisible. This research investigates devices such as smart visors and smart windows that use transflectors and photochromic materials, and that are capable of attenuating high intensity rays without darkening the rest of the field of view, thus allowing dim or dark objects to be easily discernable. These devices can be very compact (i.e., a few mm thick) and can easily be embedded in space suit visors and in spacecraft windows to improve the work performance of astronauts.