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This Is How the New Spacesuit for Moonwalks Looks Like

Half a decade from now, NASA is scheduled to make its triumphant return to the Moon. Better prepared, with clearer plans in mind, the agency is this time going there to stay, and for this to happen some new hardware is required.
NASA Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit 10 photos
Photo: NASA
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For the Artemis program, as the new push for the Moon is called, NASA is developing a series of new technologies, ranging from the spacecraft that will get the astronauts to their destination to the spacesuits that keeps them alive.

Presently NASA - as is the case with all other human space agencies – does not have a spacesuit capable of allowing moonwalks. The current suits, called Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) has only been designed to support spacewalks.

For the Artemis program, NASA is working on a new suit called Exploration EMU (xEMU). The first images of the spacesuit, still in testing phase, were shown earlier this summer.

Until now, the suits have been tested the huge swimming pool NASA likes to call the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Their official rollout, combined with actual space testing, should take place in 2023, one year before America is scheduled to get back to the Moon.

NASA says only if the suits pass those tests they will be used by astronauts, but does not mention what else is there to use if they don’t.

Separately, NASA announced earlier this week it commissioned Lockheed Martin to build six Orion spacecraft for the Artemis program, adding that it might even go for a total of 12. That announcement put the Artemis program and its importance for space exploration into perspective.

From 2024 onward, humanity plans to establish a firm foothold on the Moon, at first through these come-and-go-mission, then by setting up a space station in the satellite’s orbit, and in the long run by going down to the surface and creating a station there as well.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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