NASA plans to send astronauts to the moon in 2024.
But an important piece of equipment could not be finished by then.
Does the mission have to be canceled?
Houston - it should be that time again in 2024.
Then NASA wants to bring astronauts back to the moon as part of the Artemis program.
But the US space agency is facing a problem that could mess up its schedule.
A report by the news magazine
Spiegel
shows that NASA may not have a functioning space suit until the start of the planned lunar mission.
A prototype called xEMU (Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Units) was presented in October 2019, but the new development may not be ready by 2024.
And no astronaut can walk on the moon without a spacesuit.
There are also difficulties in building the lander.
NASA lacks space suits for lunar mission: Development costs a billion dollars
According to
Spiegel,
technical problems and the closings of NASA research centers during the corona pandemic
are responsible for the dilemma
.
But money also plays a role.
Because the costs of developing the spacesuits seem to have gotten out of hand.
+
Since NASA's new spacesuit might not be ready in time, the new US lunar mission is in jeopardy.
© Joel Kowsky / NASA / imago
A special report from NASA's inspector general states that $ 420 million has been spent on it so far, with a further $ 625 million to be added by 2025.
"By the time two airworthy xEMUs are available, NASA will have spent over a billion dollars developing and manufacturing its next-generation spacesuits," the report said.
NASA lacks space suits for moon missions: Engineers let off steam
A lot of money seems to have been wasted.
Since NASA couldn't decide what tasks the new spacesuit had to perform, the engineers experimented with many materials and technologies, Cathleen Lewis, curator for international space programs at Washington's National Air and Space Museum, told
Spiegel
.
These include additional joints for better mobility or improved plastic seals against the moon dust.
The XEMUs are elaborate constructions that astronauts wear during field operations, be it in the weightlessness of space or on the surface of the moon.
Lewis describes the suits as a kind of mini-spaceship to wear, which protects against suffocation and overheating, against radiation and, ideally, even against the impact of dangerous micrometeoroids.
NASA lacks space suits for moon missions: models in use are out of date
Currently, NASA only has eleven suits that are suitable for field use.
Four of these are currently in use on the ISS space station, the rest are under maintenance.
However, these are outdated models that were developed for the Space Shuttle program in the 1970s.
The ancient technology already led to a near disaster on the ISS.
During a space mission by the Italian Luca Parmitano on July 16, 2013, water collected in his helmet, whereupon the work had to be stopped prematurely.
The immediate cause was a clogged filter.
In the meantime, as a temporary solution, absorbent pads that can hold up to 800 milliliters of liquid have been installed in the helmets.
And in spring 2019, NASA had to cancel the first joint outdoor deployment of two astronauts at the space station due to a bottleneck.
There weren't two suitable spacesuits for the women.
NASA lacks space suits for moon mission: Musk offers help
Elon Musk, head of SpaceX, said that his company would be happy to take the job and get it done quickly.
SpaceX is said to be still in the development of spacesuits for foreign missions.
SpaceX does not provide any information on how far work has progressed on it.
List of rubric lists: © Joel Kowsky / NASA / imago
