The world of the Fremen is coming to life as a YouTube channel embarked on the venture to create real-life stillsuits from Dune.
Hacksmith Industries is known for taking fictional ideas from movies, TV series, and entertainment and making them into real possibilities. Dune is set millions of years into the future with technology that’s other worldly from traveling across the universe to equipment.
Living in the dangerous deserts of Arrakis, Fremen technology is all about using as many resources as possible to survive the lack of accessible water. Their stillsuits were created for this very reason. The suits lock in the body’s natural moisture and turn sweat, and probably urine, into drinkable water.
It’s one of the key ways the Fremen can survive on their home planet and gives them the upper hand over rivals like the Harkanonnen. But are the stillsuits functional in the real world?
Hacksmith Industries YouTube took it as a challenge to create the functional science behind the suits. One of the biggest challenges is how to collect body moisture and turn it into drinkable fluids. They used a thermoelectric cooler.
Its cooling parts create ice or moisture and connected tubbing to it to circulate the wearer’s breathing to the cooler. The water collected from the thermo cooler makes its way to a backpack with a filtered tube that the person can drink from.
The suit Hacksmith Industries works, as on multiple occasions they were able to drink their own sweat – though the resulting liquid was described as “warm and sweet,” which made me a bit nauseous to imagine.
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Fans were impressed by what they were able to create, and it’s only Part 1.
“Drinking my own sweat, definitely the kind of thing I’d want to rush the build on. Can’t wait to see the final result!” said one commenter.
Another fan said, “So film theory says it’s possible and now Hacksmith says let’s make it!”
Hacksmith Industries’ functioning still suit led another fan to wonder, “Could this actually be viable tech for working in the desert? Along with some way to circulate the air from the cool side of the TEC inside the suit and a few small solar panels sewn into the shoulders…”
Like the real-life deserts of Jordan and Saudi Arabia that Arrakis was based on, there are far few viable sources of water. It makes living in the vast deserts near impossible. A stillsuit could work wonders, but Hacksmith Industries tech is far from perfect or sustainable like Dune.
You can read up on Dune like where to stream the second installment and other movies to watch. As well as Dune explainers like what Spice is, what language the Fremen speak, and what the Water of Life is.
