Elain Brown Science 06.02.2022 01:Jun AM EDT

NASA Picks Two Companies to Build Spacesuits for Moon Mission

NASA has recently announced a collaboration between two private companies, Axiom SPace and Collins Aerospace. This partnership will allow the creation of newer and better spacesuits that astronauts will be able to use for the International Space Station, Moon, and Mars missions.

NASA's Spacesuits by Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace

NASA has previously revealed that they have been working on developing the new spacesuits to be used by its astronauts. The agency has been working on this project for 15 years and has spent $420 million developing these spacesuits. The latest spacesuit they were developing was the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU).

Unfortunately, they found that the setbacks in developing a new spacesuit will only delay the agency with their Artemis program. With that, NASA's announcement today confirms that the agency will now rely on Axiom and Collins for the supply of a much better spacesuit.

NASA will give access to the technology that has already been worked on to both private companies. However, these companies will be the ones to develop the spacesuits that will be used for further space activities on the ISS and the moon.

According to ArsTechnica, the first new NASA spacesuits in decades, Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, stated that the previous spacesuits were the workhorse for 40 years. She added, "These new capabilities will allow us to continue on the ISS and allow us to do the Artemis Program and continue on to Mars."

Axiom and Collins' spacesuit initiatives will each receive a limited amount of guaranteed financing for developing the new technology. Both teams will be able to receive the $3.5 billion contract to supply spacesuits for NASA missions through 2034.

Like the private companies that transport cargo and astronauts to the ISS, Axiom, and Collins don't have guaranteed orders detailed in the contract just yet. However, they will be able to compete for task orders for missions as early as 2025. According to NASA, this would also include a demonstration flight outside the ISS and the Artemis 3 moon landing in 2025 or 2026.

NASA's Design for the New Spacesuits

The new spacesuit is expected to be designed around inclusivity, meaning a spacesuit that would fit any body type, whether a man or a woman. NASA has experienced previous inconveniences with its spacesuits. The spacesuits have been receiving constant criticism.

In addition, NASA has only contacted one all-woman spacewalk to date since 2019 because of the difficulties that need to be addressed by swapping out the right-sized spacesuit parts in orbit. Hence, the agency requires the next generation of spacesuits to be designed with flexibility.

According to Space.com, retired NASA astronaut and Collins Aerospace senior technical fellow Dan Burbank said a spacesuit shouldn't feel like a spacecraft. He added, "We want to be able to create an immersive environment that, for the crew members, gives them the most amount of mobility."

NASA stated that the previous EMUs spacesuits are showing signs of aging. The most recent sign of this is the water leak that occurred in the astronauts' spacesuits back in March. They are unable to utilize EMUs on the space station to perform routine spacewalks at this time.

The extravehicular mobility units (EMUs) that have been used by the agency since 1983-that were also developed by Collins Aerospace along with ILC Dover-will be retired and replaced with the new suits that will be developed by Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace.