Airlock Issues
So, you are suited up safely and then find that the airlock mechanisms are malfunctioning preventing either the inner or outer door from opening, what now?
The airlocks should be designed with manual overrides (hopefully) as well as connections to resupply the colonist’s suit with supplementary air and electrical power. A heating mechanism built into the suit that receives power from the habitat / transport would also be advantages. (How cold does the night get on Mars or the moon?)
This same connectivity should also be on the outside of the airlock as it may not open upon your return from a work excursion outside, and being stuck outside has actually occurred.
In a New York Times article (July 19, 1990) it was reported that “Two Soviet astronauts walking in space were trapped outside the Mir space station when an airlock door failed to close, forcing them to use an emergency re-entry procedure as their air supplies ran dangerously low.”[1]
If there had been exterior connections by the airlock to built-in external re-supply connections on the suits or helmets, the emergency would not have been so dire.
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