What will Axiom and Collins suits look like and how much will they cost to go to the Moon
On March 15, 2023, NASA and its partner company Axiom Space presented the new space suits for the Artemis program and beyond at the Houston Space Center. The article by Massimo Falcioni published in the magazine Civiltà delle Macchine (Leonardo Foundation)
Day more day less, however not before 2025, man will return to the Moon. NASA proceeds across the board to carry out the Artemis III mission, operationally launched with the launch of Artemis 1 on November 16, 2022 (after being postponed several times due to technical problems and various storms) with the second stage scheduled for November 2024 with the launch of Artemis 2 for a lunar flyby with a crewed Orion spacecraft returning to Earth.
This will be the first manned spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. In August 2022, NASA revealed where the Artemis III mission astronauts will land, identified in 13 regions near the lunar South Pole, in a defined area of particular interest, suitable for the future construction of a permanent outpost where crews could remain for long periods on the Moon and, in the future – lo and behold! – prepare and launch from there for subsequent missions to Mars. With the Artemis program (Artemis in Greek mythology is the twin sister of Apollo, son of Zeus), NASA and its national and international partners, such as ESA, the European Space Agency, JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), aim not only to return to the Moon but to pave the way for a long-term lunar presence, with an orbiting space station and a permanent outpost that acts as a springboard to reach other planets (as mentioned, Mars), effectively laying the foundations for starting a lunar, extra-terrestrial economy. A non-secondary part of the program concerns the design and construction of the new space suits that the first woman and the first black astronaut who will walk on the lunar surface in a few months time will probably wear. Space suits-prototypes that, after not a few postponements, NASA and the partner company Axiom Space presented at the Houston Space Center on March 15, 2023. New design suits and new technologies.
They'll also have helmet lights for exploring, a shoulder pack with survival gear, well-insulated boots to protect against the frigid soil of the lunar south pole, and flexible arm and leg joints for increased mobility. The new suit is called AxEMU (Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit) and was designed "to provide greater flexibility, greater protection from the hostile environment and specialized tools, in order to meet exploration needs and expand scientific opportunities". For this specific project Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace have signed a contract with NASA for 228.5 million dollars (for Axiom) and 97.2 million dollars (for Collins), the first lot of a financing of 3.5 billion dollars for an overall long-term commitment (Exploration Extravehicular Activity Service Contract), until 2034.
Moreover, suits that will not be exclusive to NASA: the two companies will also be able to sell them to third-party companies. “The suits are the first part of the Moon program that is becoming a reality,” says Lara Kearney, NASA project leader for extravehicular activities and surface human mobility at the Johnson Space Center. "This time we will land at the South Pole – adds Bob Cabana, associate administrator of NASA – and it will be a challenge to learn how to operate and exploit lunar resources in the long term".
The new design, black with blue and orange details, looks very different from the puffy white dresses worn by 20th century 'moonwalkers'. Axiom Space explained, in a press release, that its suits are covered with an additional layer compared to the classic suits, with the company's colors and logo, for 'display' reasons. That is, they are beautiful to display even for promotional purposes. Real space suits worn by astronauts must be white “to reflect heat and protect astronauts from extremely high temperatures,” Axiom writes in its release. "We haven't had a new design since space shuttle suits were designed, and those suits are currently in use on the space station," said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. “So, for 40 years, we've been using the same suit based on that technology. And today, Axiom for the first time in a long time, has come up with a new design and a new technology. We will work together (at Axiom) to make sure we have a suit that works with everything our astronauts will be using for surface operations.
"NASA's partnership with Axiom is critical to landing astronauts on the moon and continuing America's leadership in space," said Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator. “Building on NASA's years of research and expertise, Axiom's next-generation spacesuits will not only enable the first woman to walk on the moon, but will also open opportunities for more people to explore and conduct scientific experiments on the moon than ever before. Now". The new suits will play a crucial role in the Artemis program. What to say? Well. If they're roses they'll bloom! If successful, the Artemis III landing will mark the return of humans to the lunar surface more than half a century after Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt left the surface on December 14, 1972. Overall, the Apollo program managed six landings with two astronauts each, for a total of 12 people who walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972.
In addition to these six human landings, there have been 17 successful soft robotic landings on the Moon. Most of these took place in regions close to the lunar equator and almost all took place between 1966 and 1976, under the control of the space agencies of the United States or the former Soviet Union. In 2013 a further lander returned to the Moon, this time from China, which has since had three successful soft landings, including the first on the far side of the Moon, in 2019. The great challenge that began in the 20th century restarts in the 21st century.
Article published on civiltadellemacchine.it
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/come-saranno-e-quanto-costano-le-tute-di-axiom-e-collins-per-andare-sulla-luna/ on Sun, 19 Mar 2023 06:12:14 +0000.