With ingenuity and craftsmanship, even the high-tech suit from Dune can be recreated in a single day. But is the recycled drink really tasty? Fans have tested it.
What kind of suit is it? Aside from sandworms and their native habitat, i.e. the vast amounts of sand in the deserts of the planet Arrakis, the Fremen stillsuits are among the most famous elements of the science fiction universe.
The suits recycle the excreted water (urine, breath, sweat) in the scorching hot atmosphere so that human life is possible without carrying huge amounts of water with us. On Earth this is mostly unnecessary, but fans wanted to know: Can we recreate something like this? And what does the result taste like?
What was Dune again? The original novels were written by Frank Herbert. Dune (in English “Dune”) has recently gained new popularity, mainly thanks to the films by Denis Villeneuve. The second part (Dune: Part Two) was released in German cinemas in February.
But the Dune universe also has something to offer in terms of video games and even MMOs, may we introduce? Dune: Awakening:
Dune: Awakening – From book to film to video game
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Hobby tinkerers build their own Dune suit and try
On their channel Hacksmith Industries, a few YouTubers with crafting talent grabbed commercially available tools to recreate a suit; as well as taste it and its body water product.
What do they use? Generally, the suit consists of the following parts: A white, airtight lab suit, over which, after the initial tests, a standard Tyvek suit is put on for insulation to maximize warmth, and all of this is visually completed at the very end to form a stillsuit costume. They want to look smart while they experiment.
They capture their breath using a mask that is connected to a thermoelectric cooler via a tube. The power is supplied by a battery.
How does the suit work? The warm, moist breath is passed over the cooler, where the temperature of the air is lowered. This causes the water to condense. This condensation runs through a pipe into a reservoir. This is where the body water collects and can be sucked up through a thick straw built into the mask.
Is urine also recycled? No, the amateur inventors don’t go that far. But who knows? Perhaps in the future they will attempt even more daring constructions to enable survival in earthly deserts.
After some (strength) exercises and a trip to a homemade sauna, quite a bit has been accumulated. So cheers!
So how does the water taste? On a scale of 1 to 10, the tester of the suit and his own sweat gives the drink a solid six. It doesn’t taste that bad, he says, and you can hear the surprise. He expected it to be worse, a three. What is annoying, however – and would probably be even worse on Dune – is the temperature of the drink: quite warm.
If this article has made you really want to make your own stillsuit, we can’t help you immediately, but can only refer you to your own workshop. Now you know how to do it.
But if you’re now keen on Dune but aren’t sure whether the second movie is for you, you can do two things: First, just watch the first part. And second, read MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya’s opinion piece on Dune 2. There you’ll find out why she thinks she’s already seen a science fiction classic.