NASA Requires Development of Gloves and Footwear Resistant to Moon's Extreme Cold
NASA Prepares Next-Generation Spacesuits for Harsh Lunar South Pole Conditions
NASA's impending missions to the Moon's South Pole will subject astronauts to considerably colder temperatures than the Apollo era, and the agency is diligently working to provide adequate protection for its explorers in the permanently shadowed regions.
A team of engineers from NASA is set to test the elbow joints of the next-generation spacesuits in a large cryogenic chamber, known as CITADEL, to assess the fabric's resistance to icy lunar conditions. Originally designed to test robot parts for uncrewed missions, such as those bound for the icy moons of the solar system, CITADEL is now repurposed for human exploration of the Moon.
"Our primary concern is understanding the risks to astronauts venturing into the permanently shadowed regions," Zach Fester, an engineer with NASA's Advanced Suit Team at Johnson Space Center, said in a statement. "Gloves and boots are crucial since they facilitate prolonged contact with cold surfaces and tools."
CITADEL stands 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide and can chill down to temperatures as low as -370 Fahrenheit (-223 Celsius) using compressed helium. The large chamber takes several days to reach the desired temperatures, and any opening can reset the cooling process. Four load locks, resembling drawers, allow for test materials to be inserted without disturbing the chamber's chilled, vacuum state. CITADEL is also equipped with a robotic arm for handling test materials and cameras for documenting the testing process.
For simulations of Moon missions, the team will incorporate abrasion testing and lunar regolith-like material into the chamber, as well as aluminum blocks to mimic tools that astronauts may grasp. Previously, NASA would use actual astronauts for thermal testing by making them insert their gloved hands into a chilled glove box, grasp a frigid object, and hold it until their skin temperature dropped to around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Now, the team relies on a custom-built manikin hand and foot for testing inside CITADEL, complete with a system of fluid loops and dozens of temperature and heat flux sensors to measure data from inside the gloves and boots.
NASA plans to send astronauts back to the Moon through its Artemis 3 mission, a significant milestone since the Apollo era. Instead of landing near the equator on the near side of the Moon, like in the Apollo missions, the Artemis crews will explore the frigid lunar South Pole. This region holds promise due to potential water ice deposits but is characterized by extreme temperatures and shadows where the Sun's light does not reach. Artemis astronauts are expected to spend approximately two hours inside craters containing such ice deposits, where the temperature can drop to a chilling -414 degrees Fahrenheit (-248 degrees Celsius).
The upcoming Artemis astronauts will don new, advanced spacesuits. NASA has tasked Axiom Space with developing the first moonwalking spacesuits since the Apollo missions, which resulted in the creation of the AxEMU – short for Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit. The company partnered with Prada to leverage the fashion house's design and material expertise while aiming to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance for the astronauts on the Moon.
The ongoing tests in CITADEL will guide NASA in establishing criteria for its next-generation AxEMU spacesuits. While the gloves under testing have historically performed poorly in the chamber, indicating they would not meet lunar South Pole thermal requirements, the results from the boot testing are yet to be fully analyzed. The gloves being evaluated are the sixth version of a design originally developed in the 1980s and are part of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit used by astronauts on board the International Space Station during spacewalks.
Shane McFarland, technology development lead for the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson, said in a statement, "Our goal is to identify the limits: How long can the glove or boot withstand the lunar environment? We aim to quantify the current hardware's capability gap so we can inform the Artemis suit vendor, and we also want to develop this unique test capability to evaluate future hardware designs."
NASA's Artemis 3 mission is currently scheduled for launch in 2027, during which it will send astronauts on an exploration of previously unexplored regions of the Moon. The hope is that the astronauts will remain warm in the icy and frigid lunar South Pole.
- CITADEL, initially designed for uncrewed missions in the outer solar system, is now repurposed for human exploration, testing the next-generation spacesuits for NASA's Artemis 3 mission.
- The new, advanced spacesuits, developed by Axiom Space in partnership with Prada, will be subjected to testing in CITADEL to evaluate their resistance to the extreme temperatures and conditions of the Moon's South Pole.
- The ongoing tests aim to identify the thermal limits of the spacesuit components, particularly the gloves and boots, to ensure they meet the rigorous requirements of the lunar South Pole and inform the development of future suit designs.
- The results from the tests in CITADEL will contribute significantly to the establishment of criteria for NASA's next-generation AxEMU spacesuits, helping to keep Artemis astronauts warm as they explore the icy and frigid regions of the Moon during the Artemis 3 mission.
