The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded the contracts to Axiom Space and Aerospace as part of its plans to expand services related to spacewalking and moonwalking.
The international space agency aims to create next-gen spacesuits that will help them succeed in its future missions.
NASA Expands Developer's Program For Spacesuits
Back on July 10, NASA officially handed the next-gen spacesuit creation to two space firms. At that time, it was quite a bold move that the organization made since it experienced difficulties in creating its own spacesuit in the past.
Now, according to Engadget, the space agency is eyeing to develop a highly adept suit that is designed to make space exploration easier.
NASA says that the suits are already in development at the moment. Collins is assigned to make space gear suited for moonwalking, while Axiom is tasked to create a next-gen ISS suit.
The contract for the two companies was made possible through the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services program back in June 2022.
With this move, NASA will reap more benefits in allowing other private firms, undermining the need to rent suits.
The Artemis spacesuit which is under Axiom Space's task order was valued at $228.5 million. Three months later, the transaction with Collins Aerospace took place. It was valued at $97.2 million.
'Crossover' Task Orders For More Intensive Suit Development
With the crossover task orders happening at once, NASA says that the initial design work for the suits has been finalized already. Still, it will consider more options when it comes to developing next-gen spacesuits.
"Using this competitive approach we will enhance redundancy, expand future capabilities, and further invest in the space economy," Lara Kearney, manager of the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program at the Johnson Space Center said in a report by SpaceNews.
Furthermore, NASA did not only want to develop spacesuits just for the sake of exploration. Actually, it has been long established that it was also planning to construct a commercial space station on the moon. This will require the need to wear spacewalking suits.
In a company statement, Axiom Space's program manager Mark Greeley said that the whole organization is excited to be considered by NASA as a partner for developing orbital spacesuits.
Additionally, Greeley stated that the suit for the low Earth orbit version is already in the works.
Meanwhile, Collins' director of EVA and human space mobility systems, Dave Romero highlighted that their next-gen spacesuit design is "90% compatible" with the moon missions.
In other space-related news, the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission of India Space Agency is already set for July 14 launch. The space agency claims that by August 23, the heavy-lift launch vehicle will finally land.
