NASA recently announced that it will entrust the manufacture of new spacesuits to two private companies, Axiom and Collins Aerospace. The current suits need to be replaced because they are no longer reliable enough to perform spacewalks outside the ISS. The new wardrobe will also be used to return to the moon and will have touristic uses.
NASA has been struggling with space suits for some time now. For example, there were recently problems with a suit during a spacewalk outside the ISS. An astronaut then saw water build up in his helmet. Fortunately, this did not lead to a life-threatening situation. Nevertheless, in response to that incident, NASA has decided to suspend all extra-vehicular (EVA) activities until further notice.
That wasn’t the first time something like this happened, though. In 2013, astronaut Luca Parmitano faced a similar problem. During a spacewalk he also came to the conclusion that there was water in his suit. He then managed to return to the airlock of the ISS before the water level rose high enough to drown: he already had nearly a liter and a half of water in his suit.
Up for renewal
It therefore comes as no surprise that the spacesuits are due for renewal. Some suits are more than 10 years old. In addition, it is not possible to dismantle the suits on board the space station to find out what is wrong with them. So the US agency has to return them to Earth for maintenance, which takes up precious cargo space. That has led to two decisions: the suspension of all spacewalks until further notice and the financing of a new generation of spacesuits.
NASA announced at a news conference Thursday that it has awarded contracts to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to supply spacesuits for spacewalks from the International Space Station, as well as outfits to be worn by new lunar explorers as part of the new Artemis spacecraft. program. The Artemis 3 Moon Landing Mission is currently planned for 2025 at the earliest.
The companies will own the suits they develop and lease them to NASA, while also offering the suits to other customers. Neither NASA nor the two companies have disclosed technical or financial details about the tender.
NASA had previously planned to develop suits itself. That project was named Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU). Ultimately, the space agency decided to outsource the contracts, building on the results of commercial cargo and crew transportation. NASA also makes the xEMU data and other capabilities available to companies to support their work.
Striving for the moon, but also for profit
“I truly believe all of this data will help reduce risk and accelerate the transition to the contractor community,” said Lara Kearney, manager of the Extravehicular Activity and Surface Human Mobility program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “We were ideally placed to make the transition because of the maturity of the xEMU at the time.”
In the case of Axiom, the company was already designing spacesuits as part of its plans to bring tourists to space, reports Space News† “We have some customers who would already like to do a spacewalk,” said Michael Suffredini, president and CEO of Axiom, who attended the NASA press briefing. “It’s great to have a partnership where we can take advantage of NASA’s years of experience and all the work they’ve done to further develop the designs.”
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