NASA has put out the decision to double its options for brand new spacesuits on the International Space Station and for future Artemis astronauts to make use of while walking on the moon.
The U.S. space agency issued a brand new $10 million task order on July 10 for brand new suit options from Axiom Aerospace and Collins Aerospace, constructing upon already existing contracts with the businesses to supply suit designs for extravehicular activities (EVAs, or spacewalks). NASA initially picked Axiom to construct a moon spacesuit for Artemis astronauts while Collins has been working on a brand new suit for spacewalking astronauts working in weightlessness outside the International Space Station (ISS).
Axiom will now redesign its moon suit so it might even be used for ISS operations as well, while Collins will work to evaluate and modify its suit design to make it able to lunar surface operations. Each company will receive $5 million for the work, NASA officials said.
“Our next-generation spacesuit design is almost 90% compatible with a lunar mission,” Dave Romero, Collins Aerospace’s director for EVA & Human Surface Mobility Systems, said in a press release following the NASA announcement. “This formal contract award will support continued efforts to change our next-generation spacesuit, making it suitable to tasks on the Moon.”
The brand new task orders must also help spur latest suit innovations through competition between the 2 firms, while also providing a backup plan for NASA in case certainly one of the suit designs runs into issues.
“These task orders position NASA for achievement should additional capabilities develop into crucial or advantageous to NASA’s missions because the agency paves the way in which for deep space exploration and commercialization of low Earth orbit,” Lara Kearney, manager of the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a NASA statement. “Using this competitive approach we are going to enhance redundancy, expand future capabilities, and further spend money on the space economy.”
The 2 firms will now begin modifying their respective suit designs to adapt them to operate within the two vastly different environments of low Earth orbit and the lunar surface. Once these initial redesigns are put down on paper, NASA will review and assess the 2 designs and determine whether one or each will likely be given the go ahead for further development.
“Imagining astronauts performing EVAs outside the ISS wearing Axiom Space spacesuits, borne from the unique NASA design, would honor everyone who ever worked on the NASA suits of the past and those that are working on the NASA spacesuits of the longer term,” Russell Ralston, Axiom Space EVA Deputy Program Manager, said in a company statement on July 10.
Once an organization’s suit design is accepted by NASA, the corporate will then be tasked with developing an operational suit, including extensive safety testing and an eventual test flight demonstration in low Earth orbit and on the lunar surface. The space suit ultimately chosen by NASA will remain in use through 2034, and NASA expects to issue follow-up task orders for suit modifications as needed to make sure the security and effectiveness of the brand new suits.