Astronauts Have Nothing to Wear Outside

 

 

As a human spaceflight enthusiast (and American taxpayer) I find the results of the recent audit by the Office of Inspector General, NASA’s Development of Next-Generation Spacesuits especially discouraging.  Read the appendices to the report.  https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-21-025.pdf

NASA has spent the last 14 years, $420 million (on course to spending a billion dollars) on development and assembly of the suits that cannot meet the 2024 moon landing date. Current suit design is over 40 years old.

Yes, there are lots of reasons; funding cuts, unclear objectives (one suit for ISS and one for EVAs or one suit that does both), moon mission date being moved up, Covid-19, etc. But  I find some things just unacceptable and other things distressing.

Unacceptable:

·        Botched RFI process to involve private sector

·        Design specifications are still not solidified

·        Staff used the wrong specifications to build a complicated xPLSS interface in part caused by the use of an unreleased drawing during development testing.

 

Distressing:

·        The new suit is estimated to weigh 183.6 kilograms (404.8 pounds). For comparison, the old suits weigh about 127 kilograms (280 pounds).

·        Newer light-weight materials are available for the hard upper shell, but the project no longer has funds to explore this alternative.

·        Boot design depends on the landing location, which is not yet official. If it’s a polar location, special boots are needed for the incredible cold temperatures of the permanently shadowed regions.

·        Current communication range for the new suit is 500 meters from the HLS and the lights are not that great in darkness.

·        In case of an emergency transfer from HLS to Orion, NASA found that when wearing the xPLSS (the backpack life support systems), crew will not fit through Orion’s docking tunnel.