float-away

All the astronauts are tied with tethers to their space station, one fat rope with cables that stops them from floating away in outer space. It's the same for the objects they use on their space walks, it's just that they are tied to the astronauts themselves. All of this leaves the astronauts tangled in ropes and wires, and they are already immobile because of the heavy space suit.

We can solve this by letting all their tools float free around them, at a safe distance, without all those tethers. A system that can be used to gather all you tools when you need them. A system that can help even if the tools float away out of reach by sending a probe that will collect them and safely return them to the astronaut (or the space station).

A probe made out of solenoid (electromagnet) that will connect to the lost object and will pull it back to safe is the key element of the system. The astronaut will be alarmed of the situation when the object goes out of his reach using the already existing audio-visual systems inside his suit. He'll aim for the object and send the probe to get it and return it. The probe will be connected to him using strong kevlar rope and thin copper wires. Using sophisticated system of radio connection and near field communications we'll detect the distance to the object if it's out of reach or not. A backup system will react from the space station if the astronaut is unable to take care of the floating object using the same principles, guided by the on-board cameras.

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