Chinese rocket scientists design smart firefighter suit

BEIJING - Chinese rocket scientists and engineers are turning their expertise to developing an intelligent firefighter suit that has cooling capability and can help track the location of the firefighters.

The intelligent suit was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).

According to Wang Sifeng from CALT, the suit features rapid cooling capability. When the firefighter wears it in the fire, its temperature can drop to between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius within a minute.

High temperatures are one of the challenges for firefighters, but most firefighter suits in China do not help with cooling.

"The suit is equipped with a cooling system and replaceable cold storage materials. When the materials do not have enough cooling capacity, the suit will automatically issue a warning," Wang said.

CALT scientists also applied rocket navigation technology in designing the suit, which can send accurate firefighter positioning information to a background system in real time, thus enhancing the safety of firefighters.

The smart suit is going through several tests before use.