NASA has revealed the spacesuits astronauts will wear on the moon for the upcoming Artemis lunar missions, which will see the first female and non-white person reach the moon’s surface.
“We haven’t had a new suit since the suits we designed for the space shuttle, and those suits are currently used on the space station, so for 40 years, we’ve been using the same suit based on that technology. ” saying vanessa wyche at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, at a press conference on March 15.
The new suit, which was built by private company Axiom Space for NASA, is designed to withstand the harsh environment of the lunar south pole, where temperatures average around -13°C (9°F) but can drop hundreds of degrees. lower in craters that are in permanent shadow.
It will also have improved mobility over previous suits, weighing in at 55 kilograms, about 25 kilograms lighter than the spacesuits worn by Apollo astronauts, and will have more custom joints for greater range of motion. Since the suit has so many joints, it cannot be easily put on and taken off. Astronauts will have to go through a hatch in the back of the suit to get inside.
The suit also features a torch panel on the helmet for operating scientific tools and instruments in low-light conditions, as well as a high-definition camera so people on Earth can see what the astronauts are doing.
Photos released by Axiom Space show the suit with a black outer shell designed by Esther Marquis, costume designer for the Apple TV+ sci-fi series. for all humanity in Axiom brand colors. The suits that will be used on the moon will be white, in order to reflect heat and keep the astronauts at the right temperature.
If all goes to plan, NASA’s Artemis 3 mission will land the first non-white female astronauts on the Moon in 2025. Historically, space exploration, especially on the Moon, has been conducted almost exclusively by white men. Until last year, for example, the specific radiation risk for women had never been studied.
