Reg fashion: Here's what the well-dressed astronaut will wear on the Moon in 2025 NASA and its spacesuit provider Axiom Space have revealed what the astronauts on the Artemis III mission will wear if, as planned, they reach the surface of the Moon in 2025. Here it is in all its glory … kinda. More on that below the picture. Artemis III spacesuit Artemis III spacesuit – Click to enlarge Here's the thing …
I always figured something similar to shoelaces would make this possible
An emergency space suit, that is 'one size fits all', could basically be a giant ziplock bag with shoelaces for arms and legs and torso to "make it fit". So as air is venting, you crawl in, zip up, pull some laces and hit the O2 bottle. "Space suit"
There's already three of them on the Moon. Sadly they were not parked in the proper charging bays, having been left in random places by the previous "riders". All you have to do is find one, sign up with the app, complete the "captcha" (pick three images with craters in them), register your usage and off you go. Don't forget to wear a helmet and take out the optional insurance.
"a cover layer … used for display purposes only to conceal the suit's proprietary design."
So what's the point of showing us this?
There could be any thing underneath, a Michelin Man, Mr. Blobby or an inflatable Santa.
Let's hope that the engineering is better thought out than this ridiculous photo-op.
We'll see it when it's in space, they don't want it leaking before and someone (cough) china copying it and using it first.
Hopefully they don't want it leaking at all, especially not when it's in space. Kinda curious what they think they're protecting given they've already got the contract to put US boots on the ground. Existing CDP laws would presumably prevent other media companies from producing unauthorised or unlicensed Moon landing news footage. So perhaps they're just being mean and trying to stop Adam Savage rocking one to a cosplay convention before it's official launch. Or it's because they haven't yet finalised or announced the sponsor's logos that will be on the official suits.
I am curious what aspects of the design rivals could copy just from a visual image.
Maybe just how thick the soles are? As they're going to be on the side that Pink Floyd was singing about the floor is going to be a tad fresher than on the lit side, and I think that required a new approach to insulation. Not that you can see much of it, but that's one of the main differences with, umm, 'traditional' space suits.
Now, just to throw a stick in the proverbial hen house, semantically they're moon suits, not space suits :).
Maybe just how thick the soles are? As they're going to be on the side that Pink Floyd was singing about the floor is going to be a tad fresher than on the lit side, and I think that required a new approach to insulation
Fair point. Or it could just be they're covering the Yeezy logo until they find a new sponsor. Again I guess I'm curious how much you could learn from video, ie if the soles are made from Ultraboost(TM) or just plain'ol EVA or TPU. Or when we'll see the first Lunar citizens being mugged for their sneakers, and which legal system will apply. Creating something as 'simple' as a boot sole must be a fascinating challenge given the way Earth-standard materials like expanded or compressed plastics would behave very different in a vacuum and on lunar surface conditions.. And that's just one element that has to work a very long way from the nearest cobblers.
Maritime Law. According to Captain Blondbeard that would make heisting boots an act of piracy.
Hmm.. so that's how the Freman got started.
Also, perhaps, a little risky for the victim.
I dunno. I think there are riskier activities. Crocs might be trendy, but inappropriate footwear to wear outdoors on the Moon. Unless you're into scarification and want to demonstrate your brand loyalty on your feet. Or a long time ago, I read another SF story that talked about why walking on frozen gas lakes might be a bad idea, especially if your soles transfer heat. Or you slip and fall so your radiator lands on the ice. Then, alien ice skating might not seem such a sublime idea.
Alternatively, there might be benefits. Like no need for odour eaters or trainer tamers. Just leave your boots outside the airlock in the shade, and they should be freshened up. Unless your foot bacteria somehow manage to colonise the new planet and turns into toe cheese.
"Or a long time ago, I read another SF story that talked about why walking on frozen gas lakes might be a bad idea, especially if your soles transfer heat."
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman. The troops practising "cold manoeuvres" on Charon before deploying. An yes, oddly, your comment triggered the full memory of that, I didn't even have to look it up :-)
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman. The troops practising "cold manoeuvres" on Charon before deploying. An yes, oddly, your comment triggered the full memory of that, I didn't even have to look it up :-)
Aha! Triggered! It's fun the way our brains work. I got triggered by thinking about waking on alien surfaces, but didn't make the connection. But I'd been looking for my copy of that recently due to the way Haldeman's 1970s era, post-Vietnam experiences shaped a view of a future society that's eerily familiar now. Somehow, it's a book that probably won't be turned into a movie or TV show by Hollywood, Netflix, Amazon or Disney any time soon. I really must read it again.
(And next challenge.. The Steam release of Dwarf Fortress triggered my memory of the tale of Boatmurdered, and flaming elephants. Which made me remember a historical fantasy novel set in Roman Britain that involved evil sorceror/necromancers and demonic elephants. Can't remember if it was good, but certainly different enough to lodge in my brain. No idea what the title or author was other than being a fantasy novel, was part of a series. My search-fu has failed me finding that one.)
I'm kinda sad that Sting is losing his voice, but I guess that'll happen to all of us as we get older (but in my case my singing would more be used to keep away birds, not to fill concert halls) - we lose a register or so.
That said, that was not in evidence the last time the late Aretha Franklin sang in public. That still manages to make the hair on my arms stand on end, and it wasn't the only spectacularly good performance there either..
but there is... without a moon satellite to relay the radio... it is radio dark... then there is also the concept of it being dark while boots are on the ground... so technically yes there is a dark side of the moon... a side that faces away from us... dark from our visual perception...
As they're going to be on the side that Pink Floyd was singing about
Sorry to ruin the poetry, but the far side of the Moon isn't actually always dark, it's just always turned away from the Earth*. Also they're not planning to land there, but instead at the Moon's south pole, where there's some areas in permanent darkness (about twenty five Kelvin), and others in permanent sunlight (about four hundred Kelvin), so the suits are going to have to potentially deal with the whole range of temperatures.
* Although, when the near side of the moon is not being lit by the sun, it does still get some illumination from the light reflecting off the Earth. So it would be fair to call the far side of the Moon the "darker side" of the Moon. Which sounds like the title of a remix album now I think about it.
Mobility and comfort of spacesuits have definitely improved since the Apollo A7L.
On the other hand, SpaceX doesn't have space suits. SpaceX has only produced pressure suits for emergencies, like depressurization during launch, and they're not intended for spacewalks or moonwalks.
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Scientifically literate Reg readers will doubtless have noticed that the AxEMU is an unusual color for something that will receive a full unfiltered-by-atmosphere blast of solar radiation. What with dark hues absorbing heat and lighter tones reflecting it.Axiom Space acknowledged that by admitting "a spacesuit worn on the Moon must be white to reflect heat and protect astronauts from extreme high temperatures."
The chic gray and orange look depicted above is therefore "a cover layer … used for display purposes only to conceal the suit's proprietary design."
In other words, this whole exercise is complete bullshit (or, more accurately, FOMO at its absolute zenith).
Who knew? I thought everybody knew! I know I read about it in Collins' book which was recommended here on El Reg. I'm sure they have a whole pipeline of marketing ploys ready to stream (ha!) out at the most opportune times, such as when funding bills are before Congress.
https://www.amazon.com/Carrying-Fire-Astronauts-Journeys-Anniversary/dp/0374537763
"I'm sure they have a whole pipeline of marketing ploys ready to stream (ha!) out at the most opportune times, such as when funding bills are before Congress."
I hate saying this, but marketing is needed There are too many people questioning out investment in space exploration. They'd rather the money be used to bail out students who took 100 grand loans for their degrees in Advanced Uselessness, and were shocked when their degree didn't land them a million dollar a minute career. So, they spent 4 years partying and learning bowbtonburn down cities, and now they want the taxpayers to pick up even more of the bill. Spending money for space exploration means less money available for the loans they don't want to pay.
Personally, I support this new moon mission stuff. I consider space exploration a much better use of my tax dollars than helping indoctrinated idiots get out of debt. STEM majors generally don't have a problem getting their debts paid.
I'd agree with you on the fact that NASA needs to market everything to make sure the idiots in Congress keep funding it properly. NASA's budget is a drop in the ocean compared to things like military spending.
However, trying to put blame on the student loan repayment scheme is beyond stupid. The two have nothing to do with each other. And the vast majority of students do not spend their time doing worthless degrees, you might not like people studying things other than STEM, but people complete degrees in order to try to get ahead with their lives. That the US can even think of charging $100k for a ANY degree is ridiculous.
I come from a land which is marginally saner on degree prices, but I still walked out of my Engineering degree with $32k in debt, which took me almost 20 years to pay off in full (I was only paying the minimum, because at least we get below inflation interest rates on our loans, but even so). Is that right that you should load up fresh graduates with a life time of debt? Especially when every single one of those politicians got their degrees for free?
Your comment implies that you come from that era of free or heavily subsidised tertiary education. Since no one who has had to start their working life massively in debt would begrudge others getting some relief from that...
They had delays on the suit because nobody thought about it until everything else on the rocket was almost ready, probably because giant rockets are for fun boys toys but clothes are for girls.
They then discovered that the USA doesn't have a giant domestic spacesuit industry ready to leap to the challenge (the Apollo suits were made by Playtex, of girdle fame) so the suit was delayed, fortunately the SLS was so delayed it questions our understanding of time and space.
So they are desperate to show 'progress' on the suit, even if it's just a mockup
When SpaceX showed their suit design the design team remarked that it was actually very difficult to design a suilt that looked the part ("like in the movies") and yet functioned adequately. I don't think they would claim to have all the requirements covered since their suit was designed as a "keep you alive when the vehicle springs a leak" job rather than a "messing around in the vacuum of space" device.
My guess is that they don't have product.
"The reason they had a cover over "the proprietary bits" is that the proprietary bits don't exist. They don't have an actual suit, but they had to show something."
Even IF they had a fully finished suit, who's to care if they allowed a group of engineers in lab coats replete with rulers and drip feeds to go over the whole thing mm by mm? I'm not seeing a "national security" issue with something like this and Abercrombie and Fitch aren't going to bring them out as next year's fall fashion choice for the fully equipped adventurer. It's a item with such a limited customer base that the market can be rounded to zero in the same way as the average population of the universe as figured by the HHGTTU.
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