Suits of American astronauts for spacewalks are increasingly failing. On March 23, European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer had water in his helmet. And before that, there were many such cases. The suits of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit or EMU simply wore out . Therefore, on June 1, NASA announced that it had selected private companies Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to develop a space suit called EVA. It should be suitable for astronauts of different sizes, both men and women. Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace will also create EVA systems for work outside the International Space Station, exploration of the lunar surface as part of the Artemis mission (“Artemis”) and preparation for human flights to Mars.
The companies were selected as a result of a contract request for extravehicular activity research services (xEVAS). The agreement allows selected suppliers to compete for orders until 2034. The xEVAS perpetual, indefinite-quantity contract based on milestones has a combined maximum potential value of $3.5 billion across all tasks.
The first tasks will include the development and maintenance of the first demonstration outside a space station in low Earth orbit and a moon landing (Artemis III). Each partner will invest in the development of a significant amount of their own funds. They will be able to get spacesuits and explore other non-NASA commercial applications.
Experts from the US Aerospace Agency have determined the technical and safety standards by which the suits will be built. And commercial partners will design, develop, qualify, certify and manufacture spacesuits and support equipment for the space station and Artemis missions.
Dan Burbank of Collins noted that his company’s space suit can be “resized” in about 30 minutes. And development will be done in partnership with ILC Dover and Oceaneering.
Mike Saffredini of Axiom Space added that the suit contract would allow his company to hire 300 more people to work on the project.
“This is a historic day for us. These suits will go down in history when we get to the moon. They will be used by the first person of color and the first woman,” said Vanessa Veach, director of the Johnson Space Center at NASA.
The Artemis Moon program aims to return humans to the lunar surface in 2025, with astronauts ending up spending weeks or months on the surface of an earth satellite on missions expected to launch once a year between 2027 and 2027. years to the 2030s.
