Illustration of an artist with two crew members dressed working on the lunar surface. The one in the foreground raises a rock to examine it while the other photographs the site of the collection in the background. Credit: NASA
NASA selects Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace for next-generation space suit and walkthrough systems.
Axiom Space is a US privately funded space infrastructure developer based in Houston, Texas, which has been in the news recently due to its Axiom Space Ax-1 mission, the first private mission to the Station. International Space.
Collins Aerospace is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, and they designed the space suit that NASA astronauts currently wear when operating outside the ISS, as well as the first suit that allowed astronauts to walk on the moon.
NASA has selected Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to advance spacewalk capabilities in low Earth orbit and the Moon by purchasing services that provide astronauts with next-generation space suits and spacewalk systems to work on. from the International Space Station, explore the lunar surface at Artemis. missions and prepare for human missions to Mars.
The awards build on NASA’s experience with commercial innovation to support continuing science in orbiting laboratory and long-term human exploration of the Moon under Artemis, including the landing of the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface.
“With these awards, NASA and our partners will develop advanced, reliable space suits that allow humans to explore the cosmos like never before,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “By partnering with the industry, we are efficiently advancing the technology needed to keep Americans on a path of successful discovery on the International Space Station and as we focus on exploring the lunar surface.”
The selected companies were selected based on the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract application. The contract allows selected vendors to compete for assignment orders for missions that will provide a full set of capabilities for NASA’s spacewalk needs during the 2034 performance period. The xEVAS contract is based on delivery and quantity targets. indefinite has a combined maximum potential value. $ 3.5 billion for all job order awards. The first work orders to be completed under the contract will include the development and services for the first demonstration outside the low Earth orbit space station and for the Artemis III lunar landing.
Each partner has invested a significant amount of their own money in the development. Partners will own space suits and are encouraged to explore other non-NASA commercial applications for data and technologies developed in conjunction with NASA. This new approach to spacewalk services fosters an emerging commercial market for a number of customers and gives NASA the right to use the same data and technologies within the agency and in future acquisitions of exploration programs.
NASA experts defined the technical and safety standards by which space suits will be built, and the selected companies agreed to meet these key agency requirements. The business partners will be responsible for the design, development, qualification, certification and production of space suits and support equipment to enable the space station and Artemis missions.
“Our partnerships will help us achieve our goals of human exploration,” said Mark Kirasich, associate associate director of NASA’s Artemis Campaign Development Division. “We look forward to using these services for NASA’s continued presence in low Earth orbit and our forthcoming achievement of returning American astronauts to the surface of the Moon. We are confident that our collaboration with industry and leveraging the experience of NASA’s more than 60 years of space exploration will allow us to achieve these goals together. “
The agency will continue to make available to companies the flight and ground test data of NASA-led space station spacewalks and the project to develop the US’s Extravehicular Mobility Exploration Unit (xEMU). NASA through the EVA Technical Library. This will encourage an accelerated transition to the industry while reducing risks and providing access to NASA’s previous investments in the development of advanced exploration space suits.
NASA designed the contract to last and evolve with the needs of the agency and the space industry. The contract also provides the agency with an optional mechanism to add additional vendors that were not selected in the original award announcement as the commercial space services market evolves.
The xEVAS contract is managed by NASA Johnson’s EVA & Human Surface Mobility program. NASA’s goal is to provide safe, reliable, and effective capabilities that allow astronauts to survive and work outside the confines of a spacecraft to maintain the space station and explore areas of and around the Moon.