NASA’s next space suit for Artemis has out-of-this-world mobility
Astronauts are flying to the moon for the first time since 1972, and scientists are preparing specialized space suits for the next milestone—landing there
An AxEMU (Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit) space suit for NASA’s Artemis lunar landing missions, as seen during a press conference in Milan, Italy, on October 16, 2024.
MARCO BERTORELLO / Getty Images
Launching as early as March for a long-planned there-and-back lunar flyby, NASA’s Artemis II mission will bring four astronauts closer to the moon than any humans have been in more than 50 years. Merely traveling so far from Earth is a feat all its own, but the mission is in some ways already overshadowed by its planned follow-up, Artemis III, which is meant to take crew members to the moon’s surface to kick off a new, 21st-century era of lunar science and exploration. Of the many obstacles to overcome before any Artemis astronauts begin moonwalking, perhaps the most simple yet significant is figuring out what to wear.
A space suit isn’t so much an outfit as an anthropomorphic spacecraft. One designed for lunar surface operations must protect astronauts from perilous cosmic radiation, extreme temperatures, lung-clogging moon dust and the harsh vacuum of space. It must also carry its own supply of air, as well as water for cooling (and the occasional sip), while also having room for carrying equipment astronauts might need while in orbit or exploring other worlds. Designing a suit that meets all these needs without significantly limiting movement and functionality is an extremely difficult task. But the arduous effort may be essential for achieving longer stays in deep space—as well as building the lunar space station and surface outposts envisioned for future Artemis missions.
Axiom Space, a U.S.-based space infrastructure company, has been developing a space suit for the Artemis III mission since 2022. In 2024 the company unveiled its official design for the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU); tests of the suit are ongoing. The bulky white suit looks, in many ways, very similar to previous generations of NASA space suits. But beneath the surface, new technology promises Artemis astronauts mobility on the moon that their Apollo-era forebears could only dream about.
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“It’s really pushing the limits of material science,” says Paul Spana, a curator and director of collections at the Space Center Houston museum. “There’s going to be a lot of new things introduced for the new suit that will be used for moonwalking on Artemis III.”
Like the original Apollo space suits, the AxEMU has been built with the moon’s unique conditions in mind. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin has described the landscape of that mission’s near-equatorial exploration site as one of “magnificent desolation,” with a nonexistent atmosphere, dust all around and temperatures that swing between hotter and colder than anyone could experience—or endure—on Earth. Around the moon’s south pole, where Artemis astronauts will be headed, conditions the new suit must withstand could be even more extreme.
“This region presents unique challenges including steeper terrain, extreme temperatures and prolonged periods of light and darkness—conditions far harsher than those faced by Apollo astronauts at the lunar equator,” says Victoria Ugalde, a NASA spokesperson. “The space suit will also need to function across different landers, rovers and spacecraft.”
To prepare for this desolation, the new suit has robust temperature regulation and is scratch-resistant to reduce damage from jagged rocks and abrasive dust. The biggest change, though, is in its flexibility. Whereas Apollo space suits were akin to wearing an inflated balloon that greatly hindered motion, the AxEMU is designed with flexible joints that give astronauts mobility to kneel, jog or even do the splits. Besides allowing space-suit-clad astronauts to fit within multiple different vehicles, the AxEMU’s enhanced range of motion should also make working on the lunar surface easier.
The new suit’s unique joints are shaping up to be a major advancement over previous space suits, but the AxEMU’s relatively high weight is still a cause for concern. Axiom Space has not revealed the exact weight of its new suit, but it is more than that of previous space suits, including the Apollo suits, which weighed nearly 200 pounds on Earth.
Even under the low gravity of the moon, wearing several hundred pounds still feels heavy and could even cause injuries, NASA astronaut and doctor Mike Barratt told Ars Technica—especially because astronauts are likely to also be toting tools and equipment during lengthy surface operations. Experts say the suit’s added weight is not ideal.
“Weight is always a key consideration in space suit design,” NASA’s Ugalde says, but she adds that the agency maintains “extremely high confidence” that astronauts will be able to perform mission-necessary tasks when it comes time to don their suits and set foot on the moon. Then, when the Artemis III astronauts return, they will bring with them lessons about how the suit performs in situ, helping to bring forth an even more refined future generation of space suits.
“These lessons will shape future Artemis missions, expanding operating ranges and enhancing crew capabilities,” Ugalde says. “Every step builds toward NASA’s goal of a sustained human presence on the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.”
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