NASA is looking for commercial partners to develop the next generation of space suits and spacewalk technology.
In a Request for Information (RFI) published April 14, NASA revealed that it is seeking feedback from the space industry on its recently updated strategy to collaborate with commercial partners in space. In this new strategy, NASA intends to work more closely with commercial partners to develop, build and maintain technology for spacewalks or extravehicular activities (EVAs), including space suits. said in a statement.
Under this new strategy, the agency will “shift the acquisition of the exploration extravehicular activity system (xEVA) to a model where NASA will purchase space suit services from commercial partners rather than building them internally with traditional government contracts,” the statement read. .
This means that NASA will seek commercial space for spacesuits and related hardware that astronauts will use for missions to both the International Space Station and to the moon among NASAs Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface by 2024. NASA added that this equipment and technology will be used for the planned gate moon space station.
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“We hope to receive input from industry on the feasibility of shifting our activities of acquiring exploration spacewalk to a service-oriented model such as our procurement for commercial cargo and crew services,” Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems at the Washington headquarters, said in the same statement.
“This partnership opportunity will enable NASA and the industry to work together as low-orbit commercial space markets and beyond rapidly mature, allowing government investment to accelerate the industry and our Artemis exploration plans together.”
This isn’t the first time NASA has approached the commercial space industry for collaboration. NASA is currently working with commercial partners such as SpaceX and Boeing to develop and supply crew capsules for missions to the space station. In addition, NASA has just announced that, after a competition between three companies, SpaceX has received the contract to build the lunar module for the agency’s Artemis program.
“We are always looking for ways to reduce costs to taxpayers and focus our efforts and resources on future technology and our daring missions in deep space,” Kirasich said, adding that “NASA has a responsibility to taxpayers and future explorers to re-examine its infrastructure as needed to reduce costs and improve performance, ”he said. “As part of this strategy, the agency opens the door to maximize competition and commercialize space, including space suits and EVA capabilities.”
While NASA will contact and work with commercial space companies in the future, the agency will continue to develop its xEVA system, including its xEMU spacesuit – a next-generation spacesuit that NASA designed ‘in-house’ with Artemis in thoughts. , NASA said in the statement.
“Our team has developed incredible knowledge of spacewalks and space suit activities over the decades and has extensively studied the unique environments in which our astronauts must operate,” said Chris Hansen, manager of the Extravehicular Activity Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. in the same statement. “We hope to combine that with the ingenuity of the private sector to enable a versatile EVA capability.”
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