Houston-based company Axiom Space plans to build a space station in Earth's atmosphere. The image is from Axiom Space.
Even as it prepares to launch the first fully private crew to the International Space Station early next year, its engineers are also developing in-house spacesuits.
The spacesuits were teased on a Texas-based company's website. While the suits fit into the long-term plans of creating private space stations that can host paid research missions, the company also hopes to provide the suits to NASA as the space agency prepares for crewed Artemis program launches to the moon.
The spacesuit is similar to a space station, according to Matt Ondler, the chief technical officer of Axiom. It has the same systems and you worry about the same things.
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A former NASA manager founded the company. A crew of three private civilians commanded by a retired NASA astronaut will fly to the International Space Station in February 2022. The crew will spend a week in the space station on a Crew Dragon capsule. The passengers paid $55 million for the experience.
The crew will be conducting a number of research experiments. The passengers of Axiom-1 will conduct around 100 hours' worth of research, including a hologram demonstration and studies on the effects of space travel on the human body.
The suits are part of the longer-term plans of the company. The company plans to detach its modules to establish free-flying space stations before the International Space Station retires. Extravehicular activities, also known as spacewalks, will be supported by an airlock by the year 2027.
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The spacesuits fit well into the plans. They will allow astronauts to work from space. The spacesuits will make it easier for astronauts to build infrastructure in space, without the need to launch modules from the ground, according to Ondler.
More passengers may be attracted to in-house spacesuits. A lot of private astronauts would like to experience an Eva, according to Ondler. We're trying to figure out ways to make it easy to do.
The company has recruited people from NASA. He told Space.com that they think they can build a suit in-house very cost-effectively, but he didn't say how much it would cost.
The new spacesuits wouldn't be used by 2027, but Axiom hopes to have them ready by 2024. In addition to the Artemis moonwalks and spacewalks from the Gateway outpost, NASA is looking to procure new suits for Evas in Earth's atmosphere. NASA has said it will start awarding contracts in 2022, and that it hopes to be in the discussions.
"We could potentially be a suit provider for NASA if we have that capability in 2024," Ondler said.
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