SpaceX unveiled the most hip and cool Extravehicular Activity (EVA) space suit ever. Stepping away from the bulky design that has been the staple of all NASA missions, the design of SpaceX reminds us more of a Star Trek movie than about the Robot from the TV series Lost in Space of the '60s.
The new EVA suit is similar to the Intravehicular Activity (IVA) spacesuit, slightly bulkier but equally stylish. I love fashion, and my scientist friends call me a fashionista, not for being obsessed with the new trends but rather for embracing elegant and sophisticated styles that have appeared through the years. I would still feel in my element wearing this spacesuit.
On top of its looks, the spacesuit meets all the safety standards, life support requirements, and thermal management that any EVA suit needs. It uses a new flame-resistant stretch fabric material that provides the desired mobility of the outer layer in pressurized and unpressurized scenarios. Inside the suit, a textile thermal garment material regulates the temperature without maintaining mobility. The joints are also cutting-edge; these have a novel semi-rigid rotator to allow arm rotation and stay soft until pressurized. Additionally, enhanced flexure joints at the waist, elbows, wrists, and legs deliver pressurized mobility. All these elements work in tandem to provide the needed mobility and make this spacesuit suitable for IVA and EVA activities. It also allows astronauts to go through a more gradual depressurization process while still performing regular duties inside the capsule.
Another component of the suit is its EVA boots. These are designed for flexibility and with the thermal capacity needed to withstand the high and low temperatures in space, which in a Low Earth Orbit could range between -85 ºF to +257 ºF or –65 ºC to +125 ºC. As a matter of fact, the material for the boots is the same thermal material used on the interstage of Falcon and the trunk of Dragon.
The helmet is also another chic design. It is a 3D-printed helmet with a new polycarbonate visor that provides critical thermal insulation. This visor has an antifog treatment on the inside and an exterior coated with copper and indium tin oxide to reduce glare during the EVAs -- it is like wearing your best sunglasses. The helmet includes two cameras and a Heads-Up Display (HUD) to support the EVA activities. The HDU activates during spacewalks to display suit pressure, temperature, and humidity. It also monitors how long the astronauts stay exposed to the vacuum of space.
The suit also incorporates reliability and redundancy enhancements to keep the crew safe during an EVA. It provides thermal management via an easy-access dial on the suit umbilical control for in-suit cooling and additional oxygen during the spacewalk. It also includes redundant helmet seals, lockouts on latching mechanisms, and internal pressure valves for fault-tolerant pressure controls. This redundancy ensures the suit remains pressurized at a higher operational EVA pressure (5.1 psi) -- NASA EVA spacesuits are pressurized to 4.3 psi. The slightly higher pressure might help to prevent Decompression Sickness (DCS) during and after the spacewalks.
The EVA spacesuit is easier to put on than its IVA counterpart. While the IVA suit has zippers along the leg seam, the EVA suit has zippers at the waist, so astronauts can get in and out faster. Also, zippers on the forearms allow greater mobility and to put on the gloves only when needed.
While working on the design of the EVA spacesuits, SpaceX also focused on scalability. This is important, as building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require a design for different body shapes and types, which can later be translated to the massive production of spacesuits that will dress a multiplanetary civilization.
You might be wondering when these spacesuits will fly. SpaceX and the Polaris Program expect this to happen sometime after the summer of 2024. This time, the all-commercial crew part of the Polaris Dawn mission will spend 5 days in space performing several science experiments and spacewalks while using these spacesuits -- Polaris Dawn is the first mission of the Polaris Program, which seeks to demonstrate key operational capabilities that will serve as building blocks to help further human exploration to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
To conclude this blog, let me show you the new NASA EVA space suits, particularly those for the Artemis program. For this critical task, NASA contracted Axiom Space. The design provides the mobility and thermal protection needed for the Moon; however, it is similar to those we see on the spacewalks at the ISS. It is less bulky than other prototypes but far from the clean and lean look of the EVA suits SpaceX designed. Although Axiom Space chose black to reveal their EVA spacesuit, the final product needs to be white; a black suit in space would be a nightmare for temperature management, absorbing the radiation instead of reflecting it. Axiom's suits also have the life support system on the back of the suit, in a large backpack that houses the supplies and equipment to make the suit work; for example, the backpack includes the oxygen the astronauts breathe and pressurizes the suit. This and its enormous helmet are another detail that makes this design look somewhat less attractive to me.
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Artemis Space suit https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/spacesuit-for-nasas-artemis-iii-moon-surface-mission-debuts/