NASA Requires Development of Moonlanding Gloves and Footwear Tolerant to Freezing Lunar Climate
Rewritten Article:
Navigating the Moon's icy spots takes more than just a manned lunar rover—NASA's Astronauts need to bundle up! As we prepare for the Artemis 3 mission, NASA engineers are conducting chilly trials at CITADEL, a cryogenic lab specially designed to test the durability and functionality of the next-gen spacesuits used for future lunar explorations.
Housed within the hallowed grounds of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CITADEL is no ordinary ice chamber. It's a colossal, 4-feet-tall, 5-feet-wide vessel that accommodates the extreme cold of the lunar south pole, using none other than compressed helium to reach mind-boggling temperatures of -370 Fahrenheit (-223 Celsius). It takes days to reach these frigid depths, and crashing the door open starts the entire process anew. To avoid this, CITADEL is equipped with four load locks, handy drawers that let test materials be inserted while keeping the chilly vacuum stable.
Inside, CITADEL features a robot arm that grabs test materials while visible and infrared light cameras capture every freezing frame of the testing process. For simulations of lunar missions, CITADEL will soon don abrasion materials, lunar regolith-like substances, and aluminum blocks to simulate tools and illuminate challenges the astronauts may face.
From the past, we remember NASA using astronauts themselves for thermal testing, forcing them to plunge their gloved hands into icy glove boxes and hold onto subzero objects. This cold training, you could say, was hands-on. Now, NASA employs a custom-made manikin hand and foot for testing within CITADEL. These mechanical extremities contain fluid loops and scores of temperature and heat flux sensors, all recording data from their icy encounters.
Artemis 3 marks the first manned trip to the lunar surface since the Apollo era, with plans to explore the lunar south pole. Scientists are keen to discover if water ice lurks in permanently shadowed regions here. Despite the allure of potential resources, the south pole remains treacherous due to extreme cold and sunlight-starved areas. Astronauts on Artemis will be working in craters, where temperatures drop to a frosty -414°F (-248°C).
NASA's models for the Artemis missions, the AxEMU suits, are the brainchild of Axiom Space, teamed up with Prada for a touch of fashion. These forward-thinking suits maintain roots in the Apollo era yet incorporate advanced technologies for increased mobility and better lunar environment protection.
The gloves being tested in CITADEL are the sixth generation of a glove line that began in the 1980s, used with the Extravehicular Mobility Unit aboard the International Space Station for spacewalks. So far, these gloves have struggled to meet the requirements of the lunar south pole's chilly winds. The results of the boot testing remain unanalyzed for now. NASA's hope is that the insights gleaned from these tests help develop new testing capabilities for future hardware.
Says Shane McFarland, Technology Development Lead for the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson, "This testing is all about pushing our limits. We want to determine how long gloves and boots can handle the lunar environment and quantify the gaps in our current hardware. We can then provide this valuable information to our suit vendor and refine future hardware designs."
As we await the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled to launch in 2027, let's hope the astronauts stay cozy under their new spacesuits in the icy, darklands of the lunar south pole. We won't leave them out in the cold!
Enrichment Insights:
- NASA is conducting extensive testing at CITADEL to assess the durability and functionality of next-gen spacesuits for future lunar missions.
- CITADEL is outfitted to simulate the extreme cold conditions that astronauts will encounter on the lunar south pole, including a robust robotic arm and camera system.
- The current gloves being tested are experiencing difficulties meeting the thermal requirements for lunar south pole missions, whereas the results for the boots remain unanalyzed.
- NASA's upcoming Artemis 3 mission aims to explore the lunar south pole, with potential water ice reserves, and test new AxEMU spacesuits developed by Axiom Space and Prada.
- The forthcoming Artemis 3 mission, a return to the lunar surface since the Apollo era, will see astronauts explore the frigid and sun-starved regions of the lunar south pole, where water ice may be found.
- To ensure the next-generation spacesuits can withstand the lunar south pole's extreme cold, NASA utilizes CITADEL, a cryogenic lab replicating the -370 Fahrenheit temperatures of the moon, equipped with a robot arm, visible and infrared light cameras, and load locks.
- The advanced AxEMU suits for the Artemis missions, a collaboration between Axiom Space and Prada, are an amalgamation of fashion and technology, rooted in the Apollo era with advanced features for enhanced mobility and lunar environment protection.
- As part of testing within CITADEL, custom-made manikin hands and feet are used, containing temperature and heat flux sensors to analyze data from simulated icy encounters.
- The Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for launch in 2027, calls for the development of spacesuits capable of withstanding the harsh lunar environment, an endeavor that involves pushing the limits of existing technology, according to Shane McFarland, Technology Development Lead for the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson.
