Who, as a kid, never fantasized about becoming an astronaut? The cool suits, space adventures, and alien encounters were the stuff of many hours of make believe. Over the years, though, that “cool” suit starts to look clunky, bulky, and all around unwieldy. You begin to ask yourself how astronauts can ever manage to get anything done with such a ridiculous outfit.

Apparently, scientists at MIT have a similar thought. According to an article from the MIT News Office, researchers at the school are currently at work on a groundbreaking skintight spacesuit that would restore mobility and nimbleness to astronauts in space.

Leading the charge on the new development is Dava Newman, an MIT professor who specializes in aeronautics, astronautics, and engineering systems. Newman and her fellow researchers have dreamed up a new concept for a spacesuit that, while still pressurized and safe, will not call for the heavy, bulky suits that have been the astronaut uniform for many years.

So how did Newman solve the size problem? Essentially, the new suit works like a giant piece of shrink-wrap that surrounds the body. It is made up of a lightweight, stretch material that will not look like much when astronauts first don the suit. But the key to the outfit are what the MIT News Office describe as “tiny, musclelike coils” in the material. These coils are designed to contract and tighten when the suit is plugged into a power supply, thereby pressurizing the suit by wrapping it in skintight fashion around the astronaut’s body.

Dubbed the MIT BioSuit, the new design uses shape memory alloys to pressurize the suit. These alloys, which allow the aforementioned “musclelike coils” to change shape, can be designed to “learn” a form and then return to that form when heated. In other words, the suit actually remembers the astronaut’s body, and takes that form when an electric current is shot through the coils to change their shape.

According to Newman, the suit will not just give astronauts huge new levels of movement freedom, but will also provide the same level of protection as the spacesuits of old. Where the older, bulkier spacesuits functioned by essentially creating a bubble of gas or atmospheric pressure around an astronaut. Newman says that, with this new suit, the same levels of pressure can be applied directly to the skin, without requiring the gas bubble or extra space of the older suits.

How long before the BioSuit actually makes it into space? That remains to be seen, but NASA helped fund Newman’s research, so there is no doubt that the space organization is interested in a more nimble spacesuit.