NASA Requires Development of Frost-Resistant Gloves and Footwear for Lunar Missions
Getting Set for Chilly Moon Adventures: NASA's Lunar Spacesuit Images
As NASA prepares to revisit the Moon, the chilly environment of the lunar south pole is presenting a whole new set of challenges for the space agency's astronauts. To ensure the safety and functionality of its crew, NASA engineers are runningtests on next-generation spacesuits in a state-of-the-art cryogenic chamber, the Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory, or CITADEL.
CITADEL, nestled at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is no stranger to extreme conditions. Initially built to test robot parts for non-crewed missions bound for icy moons in the solar system, it is now repurposed for humanity's return to the Moon. It cools down objects using compressed helium, taking several days to reach temperatures as low as -370 Fahrenheit (-223 Celsius). To maintain this icy atmosphere, CITADEL is equipped with four load locks and a robotic arm for grabbing test materials.
Zach Fester, an engineer from the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson, is leading the glove and boot testing in CITADEL. "We want to understand the risks to astronauts going into the permanently shadowed regions, and gloves and boots are fundamental as they make prolonged contact with cold surfaces and tools," Fester said.
The stakes are high. The harsh lunar south pole environment, with temperatures plummeting as low as minus 352 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 213 degrees Celsius) and shaded craters reaching even colder at about minus 173 degrees Celsius, demands that spacesuit components, particularly gloves and boots, provide robust thermal protection.
NASA is well aware that previous suits performed poorly in such conditions. The gloves astronauts used for spacewalks onboard the International Space Station were found inadequate for the lunar south pole's thermal demands. Results from testing on the boots have yet to be analyzed.
Determined to overcome these challenges, NASA tasked Axiom Space with developing the first moonwalking spacesuits since the Apollo missions. The result? The AxEMU - short for Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit. Coupled with Prada's expertise in design and materials, the AxEMU aims to be both functional and fashionable.
Data from the tests in CITADEL help NASA establish criteria for its next-generation AxEMU spacesuits, ensuring that astronauts can navigate the Moon's frigid landscapes without putting their lives at risk. Shane McFarland, technology development lead for the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson, sums up the objective: "We want to quantify what our capability gap is for the current hardware and develop this unique test capability to assess future hardware designs."
With the Artemis 3 mission set to land on the lunar surface in 2027, the world eagerly waits to see these new, sleek spacesuits in action as they explore the previously unexplored regions of the Moon. Here's to keeping warm in the chilly lunar south pole!
NASA is working to develop the AxEMU spacesuits, a collaboration with Axiom Space and Prada, to navigate the Moon's frigid landscapes for the Artemis 3 mission in 2027. The spacesuit testing in CITADEL, NASA's cryogenic lab, helps establish criteria for these next-generation suits, ensuring they provide robust thermal protection in the lunar south pole's extreme environment. The tests aim to quantify the current hardware's capability gap and assess future design options for health-and-wellness in space, science in space-and-astronomy, and fashionable technology. Gizmodo and other outlets will likely cover the lunar adventures in detail.
