The United States officially announced the relaunch of the moon landing plan two years ago. According to NASA last year, a new Space Exploration Program was announced, not only Restart the moon landing plan and send humans to Mars.
After more than half a century, returning to the moon, the astronauts’ equipment has also undergone many upgrades.
Yesterday NASA released A new generation of spacesuits and revealed the Technical details, plans to let astronauts wear the newly designed spacesuit on the moon in 2024.
This aerospace suit, referred to as “xEMU”, was inspired by the 1969 Apollo mission to the moon.(Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit). According to NASA Director Jim Bridenstine, the biggest feature of this spacesuit is that it is “more flexible than ever.”
The past spacesuits were very cumbersome and caused mistakes in the execution of the mission on the moon. The Apollo astronauts sometimes fell when they were on the moon, and the new spacesuit finally allowed the astronauts to lift their arms and objects. Over the top. This is because the shoulder design uses a fabric pleat and pulley cable system that allows for a wider range of arm movements when pressurized.
At the launch site, a NASA engineer demonstrated in this spacesuit, which can easily complete walking, large-scale rotation of the upper limbs, squats, and picking up items.
The whole spacesuit has a modular design, and the helmet, upper body, lower body and cooling suit can be replaced.To complete different tasks, such as replacing the right accessories in the microgravity and planetary walking environment.
▲ Image from: NASA
In addition, the headsets that used to cause astronauts to sweat in the helmets were gone. Instead, the intelligent voice system built into the helmet was used to automatically track the astronauts’ voices through voice activation.
Based on the modular design, the new spacesuit will also combine 3D scanning technology to accurately measure the movements and postures of astronauts’ spacewalks, reduce the friction between the spacesuit and the body, and make the astronauts’ activities more wide.
With these technologies, you can produce a spacesuit that every astronaut fits, not just a fixed number.Size, in the past NASA had to cancel the first planned all-female spacewalk because there was no suitable spacesuit.
Of course, as a set of spacesuits that walk in outer space, safety is of the utmost importance. NASA points out that the biggest danger on the moon is that tiny dust particles penetrate the spacesuit, polluting life-sustaining systems and even penetrating the lungs.
The new spacesuit therefore has better dust protection and can operate at a minimum of about 157 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 121 degrees Celsius.
In addition to “xEMU”, NASA also released an orange spacesuit, which is worn by astronauts in space capsules during rocket launches and returning, and can be provided in emergency situations such as loss of pressure in spacecraft. Up to 6 days of life support.
This NASA showcases only the prototype of the new spacesuit. It is reported that the first set of finished products will be officially delivered in 2023, first tested on the International Space Station, and is planned to be worn by a female and male astronaut in 2024. The spacesuit is on the moon and is expected to land near the moon’s south pole.
On July 21, 1969, NASA astronaut Armstrong stepped on the first human footprint on the moon. In the near future, the moon will have a new footprint.
The title map and some of the maps are from: The Verge< /a>