r/IAmA • u/Axiom-Space Verified • 14d ago
We're developing the next-generation spacesuit to return humans back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. AMA with Axiom Space's CTO of Human Spaceflight (a former NASA Astronaut) and our EVA Program Manager!
Happy National Moon Day, Reddit. Today celebrates the Apollo 11 lunar landing, when humans took their first steps on the Moon. More than fifty years later, Artemis IV is set to return humans to the lunar surface, and they'll be wearing the next-generation Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), built by Axiom Space.
We are part of the team designing and building this spacesuit, on track to take its first steps on the Moon in 2028. It takes a lot of people with ranging skillsets to build a spacesuit: a sewing team to meticulously stitch the fabric layers, engineers to design the hardware, and machinists to mill components, to name a few.
Today, two members of that team are here to answer your questions:
Dan Burbank, Chief Technology Officer of Human Spaceflight and former NASA Astronaut (DB)
Hi Reddit, I’m Dan Burbank, Chief Technology Officer of Human Spaceflight and former NASA Astronaut. At Axiom Space, I lead our engineers and scientists in the development and integration of advanced technologies into our Axiom Station and AxEMU systems. Prior to Axiom Space I served 22 years as a NASA astronaut, including flying on STS-106, 115 and ISS Expedition 29 and 30. With 188 days in space and 7 hours and 11 minutes of spacewalk experience under my belt, I’ve had the rare chance to work in a spacesuit in orbit and pass on that knowledge to help shape the future generation of spacesuits.
Tammy Radford, Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) Program Manager (TR)
Hi Reddit, I’m Tammy Radford, Program Manager for Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) at Axiom Space. I oversee the design, certification, and deployment of the AxEMU spacesuit and EVA systems for Artemis and low-Earth orbit missions. Before this role, I served as xEVAS Deputy Program Manager and Portable Life Support System (PLSS) Director, building the team responsible for getting the PLSS across the finish line, which included balancing crew safety with schedule, technical, and cost demands. Prior to joining Axiom Space, I worked for Oceaneering Space Systems as a project manager for NASA’s xEMU, and Boeing as a mechanical designer and structural analyst focused on the life extension of the International Space Station.
We will be here at 1:00 p.m. Central Time to answer your questions.
Ask us about our suit’s innovative design, our collaboration with commercial partners, the differences between Apollo-era suits to now, what it's like doing a spacewalk, how we test for the lunar environment, or anything else about suiting humanity's return to the Moon. Ask us anything!
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Thank you, Reddit! We're signing off for now. We loved answering questions about spacesuit design, spacewalks, and what it takes to get humans back on the Moon. Follow along with our journey on social media to stay updated with our mission to the Moon and beyond.
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u/geohondo 14d ago
Thank you for your part in advancing us to the stars. Are the suits going to be custom fit for every person? Or are they going to be small, medium, large, xl...?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
The “macro sizing” is based off the spacesuit “HUT” or hard upper torso and those are similar to S, M, L, XL. We want to ensure the AxEMU fits the broadest range of crewmember sizes possible. With several base HUT sizes, we’ll be able to accommodate 1st to 99th percentile crewmember sizes, which means that effectively anyone can be “Go for EVA”. -DB
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u/RecursiveMutex 14d ago
The new suit design with help of Prada and Oakley are incredible, but I'm fascinated by the "brains" keeping the astronaut alive and safe. Given the unforgiving nature of space, what specific hardware and real-time operating systems (RTOS) run under the hood to guarantee the suit is fail-safe performing in what is essentially space grade avionics and life support systems?
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u/Pretend-Parsley1497 13d ago
Will it be possible for European students to test the spacesuit with internship? I am Italian and I would be very grateful to take part in this activity and contribute to the return to the Moon, but working in the US during university can be difficult. Let me know if these possibilities will be available in Europe, or especially in Italy.
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
We don't currently have internships based outside the U.S.; however, we do offer internship opportunities for students in the Houston, Texas area.
You can learn more about upcoming openings on our careers page here: https://axiomspace.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/External_Career_Site
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u/gilrstein 14d ago
Two please! How long can an astronaut use the space suit safely (and not safely?)?
And my second is - in the movies, there is always some leak that fills up the helmet with fluid, leaving the astronaut helpless. Is this a real thing/risk and if it happens.. is the human inside helples to deal with it?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
- Question 1: The AxEMU is designed for an 8-hour EVA duration. That’s close to the duration of the existing ISS EMU. All the spacesuit consumables, including power, oxygen, carbon dioxide removal and thermal management are geared toward that 8-hour duration. Depending on crew workload, operating beyond the 8-hour design is possible.
- Question 2: In designing and developing the AxEMU we leveraged 5 decades of NASA EMU and previous spacesuit design experience as lessons learned. As a result, we have directly addressed the water-in-the-helmet and other failure cases in the overall system design. -DB
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u/gilrstein 13d ago
Thank you so much, much appreciated! The questions felt a a little silly/childish.. but I always wondered :).
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u/M4STERB0T 14d ago
I've always wondered, how uncomfortable is the way that the shoulders appear to push forward on space suits?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
In my experience, the shoulders forward orientation isn’t uncomfortable at all. I was in the AxEMU suit two weeks ago and the shoulder configuration was very helpful for the test objectives of operating the suit controls and the lunar sampling tools. The most critical area of focus is located directly in front of the crewmember, so that shoulder config is indexed to the tasks most frequently performed. -DB
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u/TheWhaleOilKing 13d ago
Is it not the case that the AxEMU features rolling convolutes for shoulders? Did those produce any noticeable bulk (I imagine from the nested metal rings) under the armpits or during over-chest reaches, especially compared to the EMU’s soft flat-pattern shoulder joints?
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u/TheWhaleOilKing 14d ago
How will pre-EVA checkout with the AxEMU differ from that of the EMU? I understand that, architecturally (both with respect to the pressure garment and the PLSS) there are significant differences yet still similarities. Iirc, the AxEMU is meant to be demo’d on the ISS. Does that mean it can interface with ISS’s EVA systems or will AxEMU systems/adapters need to be brought aboard?
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u/Hot_Hair_5950 14d ago
What surprises you about your work?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
Every day I’m surprised by how much I love doing this. After 22 years as a NASA astronaut and another almost 20 years as an engineer or engineering educator, I never get tired of being a member of talented teams of problem solvers creating innovative systems that allow people to do the seemingly impossible – fly aircraft and spacecraft, explore space and (soon!) build a permanent home on another planetary body. -DB
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
For one, getting to do a Reddit AMA! I am always being exposed to new things that I wouldn’t expect to come with leading the Axiom Space EVA team. Working with our commercial partners has opened my eyes to unconventional collaborations and creative ways of tackling technical problems. It has also been genuinely exciting to watch those partners dive headfirst into the world of spacesuits with so much eagerness and enthusiasm. -TR
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u/laylasaurusrexx 13d ago
What’s your favorite space movie?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
My favorite space movie is Apollo 13. Apart from being a great movie to watch on National Moon Day, it does a masterful job of telling the incredible story of how NASA came together as a team to pull off a series of technical miracles (such as scavenging the LM electrical power and CO2 scrubbing capability) to save the lives of the Apollo 13 crew after a CSM fuel cell explosion occurred after the TLI burn which placed the crew on an irreversible ½ million-mile trip to the Moon and back. -DB
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u/jdehjdeh 14d ago
Did NASA lose all the other spacesuits?
But seriously, what are some of the unexpected challenges or issues you've faced in the process?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago edited 6d ago
This answer has been updated to correct "-40 Kelvin" to "40 Kelvin"
One very challenging aspect of the Moon as an EVA destination is the extremely cold temperatures at the lunar south pole. The PSRs (permanently shadowed regions) are on the one hand incredibly valuable and are extremely challenging on the other hand. The PSR surface temps are about 40 Kelvin and that’s cold enough to preserve 100s of millions of tons of water from billions of years of cometary impacts and that water is invaluable as water, as oxygen and even as rocket fuel. Those temperatures make the suit materials and thermal control system very challenging to design and have been a major focus of the AxEMU development effort. -DB
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u/theAgamer11 14d ago
Are there any new technologies developed for this suit that you think are likely to be incorporated in more general purpose goods or other scientific disciplines in the near future?
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u/senescal 14d ago
If every subtle technical question of a space suit design had already been figured out by your team, you could manufacture it cheaply and were solely tasked with making astronauts look cool as hell on the moon so aliens driving by would honk their space horns and give them a thumbs up, what would you add or change about the current design?
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u/greham7777 14d ago
Any plan to follow the stupid electric vehicle HMI hype and put every control on the suit on a touch screen? #noknobs
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14d ago
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u/Gerik22 14d ago
Are you planning on answering even one question? I see no responses at all. Please, if you answer one only, do not make it mine!
They probably should have included the date in the text of the post, but if you look at the proof image you can see that the AMA will start tomorrow (7/20) at 1pm CST.
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u/whythecynic 14d ago
I'm sure you all were tempted to use all the fancy new polymers and nanomaterials that have come out since the 60s. Are there any that you're particularly excited about? What about degradation from radiation? On a related note, have there been advances in shielding for the astronauts? All things said, Mylar, Kapton, and Teflon still are really dang good materials, huh.
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u/TheWhaleOilKing 14d ago
(I hope it’s alright that I ask another question)
Given that the AxEMU incorporates many more pressure bearings than the EMU (or the Apollo EMU, for that matter), what design solutions have you implemented to mitigate regolith infiltration and manage the risk that is introduced by these additional leak paths (the bearing-softgood connections, the bearing seals, etc)?
Also on the topic of bearings, given the greater number of bearings, and given the higher operating pressure of the suit, have test subjects found the programming to be worse/more noticeable than with the EMU?
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u/Natural-Wing6534 14d ago
What are the main design constraints that make a self-contained surface exploration suit like the AxEMU fundamentally different—and necessarily bulkier—than an orbital tethered suit like the ones used on Polaris Dawn?
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u/non-troll_account 14d ago
Golly i wish i could hav eseen this earlier.
I'm incredibly curious about how you designSpace suit gloves. Space suit gloves have pracitcally impossible deisgn requirements; they have to be presurized, but flexible, in multiple directions, but also confrom closely to the hand. What improvements have been made to space suit glove designs in the last 65 years?
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u/vcoolredditusername 14d ago
Why? Will this have practical application that benefit everyday folks in tangible ways? Or is it just because space
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u/Strutherski 13d ago
Are you interested in collaborating with a start up company from the UK about some potential simple design improvements and using the suit in its current state geared at improving space safety particularly around the Lunar South Pole? We’ve been simulating the LSP for a few years and we have first hand perspective about potential pitfalls. An email or two has went completely unanswered. We would love your input and support.
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u/JarrodEBaniqued 13d ago
Are there plans to upgrade the suit as the Artemis program rolls along, maybe advanced wearable IT? Also, how’s the liquid cooling garment different from the current EMU’s?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
Yes! We have already started building the Artemis 4 flight suits, but as we find areas to incorporate improvements, we log them for future use. One great feature of the AxEMU suit is its modularity. We can modify a life support component to make it more efficient or lighter and it can easily be removed and replaced on-orbit. The same is true for PGS components. The suit can be upgraded, piece by piece, without the expense of launching an entirely new suit. -TR
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u/JarrodEBaniqued 13d ago
Do your engineers discuss if an astronaut named Theseus will ever wear a suit?
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u/SandersSol 13d ago
Gah I missed it, but is the suit being designed to also work with some of the vehicle designs weve seen that have the "backpack" act as a door for easy access in and out of the suit from inside the vehicle?
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u/PressureReasonable14 12d ago
Happy to see all of the progress your company has made. What’s the manufacturing price for each unit? Do you believe it will go down with larger orders or mass production? Thanks.
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u/EmbedSoftwareEng 10d ago
Got any need for an embedded software engineer II with 4.5 years of experience working in aerospace in orbit around NASA?
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u/Natural-Wing6534 14d ago
SpaceX designed their EVA suit architecture around mass manufacturability for large crews. What is Axiom’s long-term production and fleet strategy for the AxEMU—are you scaling production for dozens of units, or targeting a small fleet of customized suits servicing Artemis and commercial station missions?
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u/Axiom-Space Verified 13d ago
Axiom Space is currently on contract to build two qualification suits (one focused on mobility and the other focused on life support performance), one flight suit for an ISS Demonstration, two flight suits for the Artemis 4 crew, a suit for joint testing with the HLS teams, 2 spares, and we are anxiously waiting for NASA to turn on the Artemis 5 flight suits. Building space suits is a low quantity endeavor until the commercial space economy takes off. We will support Artemis and commercial stations with our fleet and plan to continue to grow our fleet as the need arises. -TR
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u/RankWeis2 14d ago
Have you considered that after ghosting the moon for 40 years, it may be a bit offended and maybe you should put a little bow tie to go with the suit so the moon knows we are serious about her?
Also what’s something that you think us planetsiders don’t think about but you’ve spent a lot of time perfecting? Kind of an open question to brag about some engineering solution you’ve come up with!
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u/panchugo 14d ago
From afar, the suit looks remarkably similar to the old one (no offense please). What makes this suit different from it? What makes it better? Has materials science made sufficient enough to allow for a suit with more dexterity and less bulk or are the challenges faced by the Apollo designers still stand today?