NASA Requires Development of Insulated Moon Gloves and Footwear for Extreme Cold Conditions
Spaced-Out Chill: NASA's Bid to Keep Lunar Explorers Toasty
Brace yourselves, space fanatics, because NASA's impending trips to the Moon are gearing up to be a whole lot frostier than the Apollo era, and the space agency is working overtime to make sure their astronauts stay cozy when venturing into the frigid, permanently shadowed zones of the lunar south pole.
A team of NASA engineers is gearing up to test elbow joints in a monstrous cryogenic chamber. The chamber will evaluate the durability of the next-generation spacesuits that astronauts will wear during their gallivants on the Moon. Originally crafted for testing robot parts, the Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory, or CITADEL for short, is now seeing action in humanity's long-awaited return to our celestial neighbor.
"We want to shed some light on the risks astronauts face when journeying into permanently shadowed regions, and gloves and boots are crucial because they maintain contact with cold surfaces and tools," Zach Fester, an engineer with the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson and the technical lead for the boot testing, said in a statement.
Measuring in at around 1.2 meters in height and 1.5 meters in width, CITADEL is housed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Unlike most cryogenic facilities, which harness liquid nitrogen to chill objects, CITADEL relies on compressed helium to reach temperatures as low as -223 degrees Celsius (-370 degrees Fahrenheit). This process takes several days, and opening the chamber can kickstart the entire cooling process from scratch. Fear not, CITADEL comes equipped with four load locks, drawer-like chambers that allow test materials to be inserted without disrupting the chilled vacuum state.
CITADEL boasts a robotic arm to snatch test materials and visible and infrared light cameras to catch the entire testing process on film. For Moon mission simulations, the team plans to include abrasion testing and lunar regolith-like material in the chamber, along with aluminum blocks replicating tools that astronauts may grasp.
In the old days, NASA would rope in its own astronauts for thermal testing, forcing them to squeeze their gloved hands into an icy glove box and grip cold objects until their skin temperatures plummeted to a frigid 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). Thankfully, NASA now uses a custom-built manikin hand and foot for testing inside CITADEL. The manikin's appendages are kitted out with a system of fluid loops to mimic the flow of warm blood, and jam-packed with dozens of temperature and heat flux sensors to collect data within the gloves and boots.
The Artemis 3 mission is on track to land astronauts on the lunar surface, marking our first visit since the Apollo days. While Apollo astronauts touched down near the equator on the Moon's near side, the Artemis crews will traverse the lunar south pole. This region piques scientists' interest due to its possible water ice deposits in permanently shadowed regions, but it also presents a formidable environment with extreme temperatures and sunless zones. Artemis astronauts will spend roughly two hours at a time within craters that may house ice deposits, where temperatures can nosedive to an eye-watering -248 degrees Celsius (-414 degrees Fahrenheit), according to NASA.
The astronauts returning to the Moon will don stylish, cutting-edge spacesuits. In 2022, NASA commissioned Axiom Space to develop the first moon-trotting spacesuits since the Apollo missions. Dubbed the AxEMU (Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit), the suit was built upon the legacy of the Apollo spacesuits while integrating new technology to enhance astronaut mobility and protect them against the lunar environment. Axiom Space partnered with Prada to tap into the brand's design expertise and material know-how, all the while striving for a fashion-forward aesthetic on the lunar surface.
The tests in CITADEL will help NASA hone criteria for its next-generation AxEMU spacesuits. Meanwhile, the gloves currently being tested in the chamber are the sixth iteration of a glove introduced in the 1980s and utilized by astronauts donning the Extravehicular Mobility Unit during spacewalks on the International Space Station. Unfortunately, these gloves have fared poorly in CITADEL, indicating they wouldn't cut it in the frigid conditions of the lunar south pole, according to NASA. The test results on the boots aren't fully analyzed yet.
Shane McFarland, technology development lead for the Advanced Suit Team at NASA Johnson, shared his thoughts, "This test is aimed at identifying the limits: How long can that glove or boot endure in the lunar environment? We're intent on quantifying our capability gap for the current hardware so we can share that information with the Artemis suit vendor. Meanwhile, we're also developing this unique test capability to evaluate future hardware designs."
NASA's Artemis 3 mission is slated to blast off in 2027, transporting astronauts to uncharted territories on the Moon. Don't forget your parka! Here's to keeping warm in the chilly, dark lunar south pole!
- The upcoming Artemis 3 mission by NASA will see astronauts don stylish, cutting-edge spacesuits developed by Axiom Space, integrating new technology to protect them against the lunar environment.
- In preparing for the Artemis 3 mission, a team of NASA engineers is testing next-generation spacesuit components in the Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory (CITADEL), designed to mimic the frigid temperatures and conditions of the lunar south pole.
- CITADEL, housed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, uses compressed helium to achieve temperatures as low as -223 degrees Celsius (-370 degrees Fahrenheit), recreating the extreme cold found in the Moon's permanently shadowed regions.
- The ongoing tests in CITADEL are essential for identifying the durability and performance of spacesuit components in the challenging lunar environment, paving the way for improved designs and ensuring astronauts' safety and well-being during their lunar expeditions.
