Space costumes will finally change after 40 years.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Future astronauts may soon be wearing new spacesuits as the American Space Agency (NASA) prepares to return to the moon. Modern spacesuits are finally getting a makeover after 40 years of enduring the rigors of space travel.
The agency stated on Wednesday that it will produce the next generation of spacesuits, in collaboration with two private aerospace companies, namely Axiom Space dan Collins Aerospace.
Astronauts will use the outfits to space travel on the International Space Station (ISS), study the lunar surface on the Artemis mission, and train for a human-led trip to Mars.
The companies were selected as part of the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services contract, which allows selected companies to compete for jobs until 2034.
The total cost, which includes the demonstration aboard the space station and the voyage of Artemis III, is $3.5 billion.
Lindsay Aitchison, program executive for Extravehicular Activities NASA and the Human Surface Mobility Program, noting that the spacesuit will be an “important focal point as we take our first steps back to the lunar South Pole.”
In terms of future suit designs, both companies are still in the early stages of development, so it is difficult to predict how the new costumes will look.
However, they may be significantly different from the previous version. NASA’s current spacesuit is incapable of withstanding the extremes that future space explorers may face.
They will also replace worn out ISS astronaut spacesuits during extravehicular activities, or spacewalks.
According to a NASA inspector general report from 2021, it is expected to spend more than $1 billion to support the development of the next-generation spacesuit that Axiom and Collins Aerospace are working on.
NASA has invested about $420 million in spacesuit development since 2007, which is a tremendous leap. In the last five years, more than half of the money was spent.
