NASA outsources development of Moon spacesuit to two private companies

Image: NASA

The next-generation spacesuits that future astronauts will wear to conduct spacewalks and eventually traverse the surface of the Moon will be developed by two private companies. After years of struggling to develop a new suit of its own, NASA is handing the job over to the private sector.

NASA's flagship initiative to send humans back to the moon is dependent on these new spacesuits. NASA is aiming to land the first Artemis astronauts on the Moon by the year 2025. NASA wants the astronauts to be equipped with proper spacesuits when they land on the Moon.

There is a lot of doubt that NASA can meet the deadline as there is still a lot of work to be done. Spacesuit development is one of the primary holdups. NASA's quest to create next-generation suits has been inefficient, faced numerous technical challenges, and is many years behind schedule according to multiple audits. After 15 years of struggle, the agency is handing over the reins to the commercial industry. The company that helped to create the current suits used by NASA is Collins Aerospace, while the company that is trying to create private space stations is called Axiom Space.

NASA said that the total value of the contracts is $3.5 billion, but would not say the individual values of each company's contract, claiming that information will be published at the end of the month. The life of the contracts is covered by the ceiling of $3.5 billion, which includes both partial development costs and future purchases of the suits for use by NASA. Once the suits are complete, the companies will own them and have the option to use them for other purposes.

The suits are meant to fit a wide range of body types, from the 5th percentile female to the 95th percentile male. The goal is for the spacesuits to be ready to be worn by astronauts on Artemis III, the third launch of NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, and the current target for the first landing. Artemis wants to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.

The new suits are meant for more than just lunar exploration. NASA wants a new line of suits that are more versatile than their predecessors, so that they can be used by both Artemis astronauts when exploring the Moon and to replace the aging suits on the International Space Station.

The basic spacesuit design has been used by NASA astronauts for the last four decades. The EMU, for Extravehicular Mobility Unit, is a suit used by astronauts on the International Space Station to leave the lab and conduct improvements and repairs on the outside. The EMUs are not intended to be used for lunar spacewalks. They are limited in size.

Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images

It has been difficult for NASA to transition to a new spacesuit. In 2007, the agency started work on new spacesuits and has spent a total of $420 million on spacesuit development since then. The prototype of the xEMU, a new suit, was unveiled back in 2019. NASA wanted to have two suits ready to test on the space station before sending them to the moon.

In August, an audit by NASA's Office of Inspector General found that the development of NASA's new suits was significantly delayed due to a lack of money, technical problems, and issues associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic. The xEMU would not be ready by the Trump administration's deadline, according to the report. NASA moved the deadline to 2025 a few months later. By the time the first flight suits would be ready, NASA would have spent $1 billion on spacesuit development, according to the audit.

NASA requested information from private companies for designs of new spacesuits that could be used for Artemis missions. NASA has a responsibility to taxpayers and future explorers to re-examine its infrastructure as needed to reduce costs.

NASA is putting all of its expectations on Collins Aerospace. The engineers at the space agency will continue testing the xEMU through the end of the year, but eventually they will shift focus and give insight to the commercial companies as they move forward. The data and research that NASA gathered throughout xEMU development will be made available to the two companies.

The ability of the companies to meet the deadline will play out over the next few years. Burbank said the company has already spent years of development on a suit after they unveiled a prototype lunar suit back in 2019. Mike Suffredini, the CEO of Axiom Space, said suit development began a few years back, as the company has long considered making suits for its future space stations.

It is a few years away. NASA says it's confident about transitioning spacesuit duties at this point, and that the xEMU research will help speed things up.

NASA and its commercial partners need to meet a number of important milestones in order to make 2025, including launching the agency's new deep-space rocket for the first time and finishing up human lunar landers. NASA has a lot of work to do to get back to the Moon.