“And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” Onstage, a man steps forward to cheers and applause. The reason for this enthusiasm is not his identity, but what he is wearing: a prototype of the new space suit that the next astronauts will wear on the Moon.
The event was organized this Wednesday in Houston, Texas, by NASA and the company Axiom Space, which a few months ago was awarded the contract to develop the suits for the Artemis 3 mission.
A more mobile combination
This mission of the US space agency, officially scheduled for 2025, must bring astronauts to the surface of the Moon for the first time in more than half a century, including the first woman.
In Houston, Chief Engineer Jim Stein, selected to don the suit, demonstrated by waving his arms, crouching, and even crouching. The improvement in mobility and range of motion is one of the great advances of this modern suit, compared to those of the Apollo program.
But one thing won’t change: It will always be white, said Russell Ralston, deputy director of the spacewalk program at Axiom Space.
White allows to better reflect the sun’s rays, to better regulate the temperature inside the suit. If the prototype presented on Wednesday was black and orange, it is because it included an additional layer intended to keep certain aspects of development secret.
$228.5 million in wardrobe for Artemis
In fact, for contracts for subsequent Artemis missions, Axiom Space continues to compete with Collins Aerospace.
NASA paid $228.5 million for this first Artemis 3 contract. “Any European would look fabulous there, and no doubt many will have the opportunity to use it…”, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet reacted on Twitter. “But I don’t know, I think it would still fit me, right?”
On the Moon, the suits will need to be able to cope with a particularly harsh environment. The south pole, where the Artemis missions will land, can withstand temperatures above 50 °C, but also very cold (down to less than 200 °C at the bottom of some craters). Other difficulties: dust or sharp stones.
various sizes available
Therefore, the materials used for the different layers of the suit are insulating, resistant to the risk of breakage and prevent dust from adhering, explained Russell Ralston.
The suits will not be fully customized for each astronaut, but there will be different sizes. The helmet has front lights, and a high-resolution camera that will allow you to follow the departure live from Earth.
The astronauts will put on the suit by opening it at the back. They will also carry a backpack, carrying what they need to stay alive: “Like a bottle of compressed air and a very sophisticated air conditioner, combined,” Russell Ralston described.
The suits can be worn for at least eight hours at a time, for samples and other scientific research.
If the company described the suit as “revolutionary”, one thing will not change compared to the time of Apollo: for their natural needs, astronauts will always wear layers underneath.
Suits rented by NASA
Developing a space suit is immensely difficult and hasn’t been done in the United States since the days of the space shuttles. The technology currently used for departures from the International Space Station (ISS) is therefore the same as it was about 40 years ago.
Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace are also responsible for developing new spacewalking suits. Until now, NASA has owned its suits, but has decided on a different model for the future, renting them out to the private sector.
However, those developed by Axiom, called AxEMU (for Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit), are about 50% of NASA’s recent research and development, which has made its knowledge available to companies, said Michael Suffredini, chief from ‘Axiom Space.
The company plans to build its own space station and will therefore need suits for its future customers on board.
Source: BFM TV
