NASA Requires Development of Cold-Resistant Gloves and Footwear for Lunar Exploration
Space Suit Chill-Down: NASA Gears Up for Lunar Cold Front
Space is about to get a whole lot chillier for NASA's upcoming missions to the Moon, and the agency is preparing to keep astronauts cozy when venturing into the frigid, permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole.
A devoted crew of NASA engineers are about to crank up the cool factor on elbow joints, scrutinizing them in a ginormous cryogenic chamber. The operation, dubbed the Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory (CITADEL), aims to evaluate the fabric of the cutting-edge spacesuits destined to clothe Moon-bound astronauts. Stuck in the chilly past, CITADEL originally tested robot parts for low-key missions to icy moons in our solar system. Now, it's got its sights set on humanity's highly anticipated return to our satellite neighbor.
According to Zach Fester, an ingenious engineer with the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson and technical lead for boot testing, "We want to figure out what the risks are for astronauts in permanently shadowed regions, and gloves and boots are essential because they come into contact with cold surfaces and tools and linger."
The 4-foot (1.2-meter) tall, 5-foot (1.5-meter) wide CITADEL calls NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory home. Unlike your average cryogenic facilities, which rely on liquid nitrogen to cool objects, CITADEL leverages compressed helium to achieve temperatures as frighteningly low as -370 Fahrenheit (-223 Celsius). The process of reaching these bone-chilling temps takes several days, and offloading the chamber interrupts the whole operation. To dodge this inconvenience, CITADEL houses four load locks, convenient drawer-like chambers that enable test materials to be added without disrupting the chilly vacuum state.
CITADEL is equipped with a robotic arm for grabbing test materials and sporting both visible and infrared light cameras for capturing the full testing process. For simulations of lunar missions, the team adds abrasion testing and lunar regolith-like material to the chamber, as well as metallic blocks to mimic the tools astronauts might grasp.
In the past, NASA tested glove and boot durability on actual astronauts, who had to shove their frostbite-prone digits inside a subzero glovebox, seize frozen objects, and hold on until their flesh turned as cold as 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Today, NASA employs a custom-built manikin hand and foot for testing, ensuring that astronauts don't lose their fingers while blasting off into space. The manikin's limbs are fitted with a system of heat-pumping conduits that replicate blood flow through the extremities and are crammed with temperature and heat flux sensors to collect data from within the gloves and boots.
Slated to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo era, NASA's Artemis 3 mission will take our heroes to the uncharted territory of the lunar south pole. The Moon's south pole, of great interest to the science crowd, may hold water ice in perpetual shadow, but the freezing environment presents a challenge, with extreme temperatures and sunless areas to contend with. The Artemis crew is expected to spend approximately two hours in time-out inside craters brimming with potential ice deposits, where temperatures drop to a bone-numbing -414 degrees Fahrenheit (-248 degrees Celsius), as reported by NASA.
The astronauts embarking on this lunar excursion will dazzle onlookers with their fashionable, next-generation spacesuits. In 2022, NASA commissioned Axiom Space to create the first moonwalking spacesuits since the Apollo missions, christened the AxEMU, short for Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit. Axiom Space built this sleek spacesuit around the Apollo prototype while incorporating contemporary technology to increase mobility and shield its wearer from the lunar environment. Axiom Space collaborated with Prada, utilizing the Italian fashion conglomerate's expertise in design and materials to create astronaut wear that not only performs optimally but is also stylin' and profile-boosting.
The tests in CITADEL help NASA establish criteria for its innovative AxEMU spacesuits while pummeling the gloves in the chamber to oblivion. These gloves, now on their sixth iteration from the 1980s, have repeatedly proven unable to handle the icy demands of the lunar south pole, as reported by NASA. Analysis of the boot testing results hasn't wrapped up yet.
Shane McFarland, technology development lead for the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson, shared his thoughts, stating, "We're aiming to determine the limits here: How long can that glove or boot survive in the lunar environment? We're trying to quantify our capability gap for the current hardware so we can pass this info to the Artemis suit vendor, and we're also developing this unique test capability to assess future hardware designs."
Kickstarting in 2027, NASA's Artemis 3 mission sends explorers on a wild and intriguing adventure across the Moon's uncharted zones. Fingers crossed these brave astronauts can stay toasty in the icy cold of the lunar south pole.
- The Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory (CITADEL) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is now focusing on evaluating the fabric of spacesuits for Moon-bound astronauts, a shift from its initial purpose of testing robot parts for icy moons.
- In preparation for NASA's Artemis 3 mission, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo era, the agency is testing gloves and boots in CITADEL to understand the risks for astronauts in permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole.
- CITADEL, equipped with a robotic arm and cameras, simulates lunar missions by adding abrasion testing, lunar regolith-like material, metallic blocks, and even four load locks to enable test materials to be added without disrupting the chilly vacuum state.
- The upcoming Artemis 3 mission, slated to launch in 2027, will see astronauts donning the AxEMU spacesuits, a modernized version of the Apollo prototype developed by Axiom Space in collaboration with Prada, adorning astronauts with both function and style while withstanding the lunar environment's extreme temperatures.
