Last June, NASA awarded contracts for the next generation moon exploration spacesuits to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace. Today, nine and a half months later, Axiom Space publicly showed their advanced spacesuit for the first time. The suit is based on NASA's xEMU suit that was developed by the engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston
Houston – When astronauts return to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years as part of NASA’s Artemis III mission, they will be wearing Axiom Space’s next-generation spacesuit to walk on the lunar surface.
“We’re carrying on NASA’s legacy by designing an advanced spacesuit that will allow astronauts to operate safely and effectively on the Moon,” said Michael T. Suffredini, Axiom Space president and CEO. “Axiom Space’s Artemis III spacesuit will be ready to meet the complex challenges of the lunar south pole and help grow our understanding of the Moon in order to enable a long-term presence there.”
Space.com
has more photos and a short video showing the suit with someone inside
demonstrating some of how it works.
Now it's time to say the quiet part out loud. This isn't actually the suit
they'll be wearing.
Since a spacesuit worn on the Moon must be white to reflect heat and protect astronauts from extreme high temperatures, a cover layer is currently being used for display purposes only to conceal the suit’s proprietary design. Axiom Space collaborated with costume designer Esther Marquis from the Apple TV+ series, “For All Mankind” to create this custom cover layer using the Axiom Space logo and brand colors.
My interpretation of that first sentence is that they're concerned Collins Aerospace might use knowledge of
what Axiom has done to improve their competing suits. Or perhaps another competitor, real or imagined.
Axiom Space partnered with a team of industry experts to create the AxEMU, including KBR, Air-Lock, Arrow Science and Technology, David Clark Company, Paragon Space Development Corporation, Sophic Synergistics and A-P-T Research. Though Axiom has trained privately-funded crews (AX-1 mission) to launch to and live on the International Space Station and is developing its own commercial space station, this is the first time that the company has built a pressurized garment for use in space, let alone the moon.
Space.com adds the note that, “Unlike the iconic garments worn by the Apollo astronauts more than 50 years, this new suit is a "rental" — designed, built and soon to be leased to the space agency by Axiom Space, a space services company.”
Well, DUH!
ReplyDeleteA black spacesuit on the moon? As if.
They'd melt the occupant and burn out the cooling units in minutes, if not seconds. The suits are white, and have been that or reflective silver for 40 years for a reason, FFS. The moon's sunny side surface temp is 260° F. (but a cool -300° F. in the shade).
It will never see the surface of the moon...just like the Apollo suits.
ReplyDeleteAh, gotta be one in the crowd there, Anon.
DeleteRiiiiiiiight.
DeleteThe laser reflectors at six landing sites pingable from Earth planted themselves.
We also deployed early versions of the Roomba drone, which created all the footprints on the lunar surface at those sites, visible from HQ photographs from flybys.
Here's a trick for ya, Anon.
Source even one "faked moon landing" story to five minutes earlier than Peter Hyams' 1972 shitty script treatment for "Capricorn One", which he simply pulled out of his underpants at the time, for the helluvit.
It's easier to produce a BIgfoot carcass or a unicorn horn.
As much as he deserves to be dick-punched by everyone who ever worked on the Apollo program, Hyams' twaddle just proves P.T. Barnum was right about the birth rate for a certain demographic.
Invest now in the company which produces the spacesuit as popular as Levi's work pants once were.
ReplyDeleteSooo... they revealed their space suit without actually revealing their space suit. Excellent move there, Axios. Taking lessons from Blue Origin much?
ReplyDeleteStill waiting to see what the final exosuit from SpaceX looks like. And to see whether SpaceX quietly wins the competition because Axios can't make it.
The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to ask, "how do I know there's really a spacesuit under that black cover, and it's not just a guy in farmer's overalls - if not just in his tighty-whities?"
DeleteAyup. So you spend thousands of dollars making a space suit for your space suit so nobody can see your spacesuit-covered space suit, if indeed there is a space suit under the space suit.
DeleteThe question being, is there a new new spacesuit under the space suit or is it an old Shuttle era or even an Apollo era test article (like those used in pools for 'zero gravity' practice or even some semi-atmospheric suit like used on the U2 or SR71 or even some movie prop of whatever various suits they could get ahold of or is it a CCP suit or an old CCCP or Russian suit?
Man, this is getting confusing. Or not.
Or this could be a space-suit version of the commercials for "Dead Poets' Society" which portrayed said movie as a comedy when it was decidely not a comedy, nosirree. Said new space suit could be some articulated metal monstrosity like a space version of a diver's JIM suit (which really surprises me that nobody has come out with an exo-atmosperic versiion of the said JIM suit.
Vaporwear.
ReplyDeleteNOT to be confused with Pulling Something Out Of Your Ass...
DeletePSOUYA can lead to a sticky situation, just saying...
Delete"I just kept looking around at all those dozens of instruments in front of me and reminding myself that every one was supplied by the lowest bidder." - Alan Shepard
ReplyDelete