NASA Selects Axiom Space to Develop Artemis Spacesuit – SpaceNews

WASHINGTON – NASA awarded Axiom Space a $228.5 million contract to develop a space suit to be used on the first Artemis landing mission, though the suit’s design remains classified.

NASA announced Sept. 7 that it has selected Axiom to develop the “moon walk system” for the Artemis 3 mission, including the design, development and production of the space suits the astronauts donned in NASA’s first manned landing the moon for more than 50 years.

Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace received Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contracts from NASA in June to work on spacesuits for both Artemis missions and International Space Station spacewalks. The companies would then compete for contracts for various aspects of spacesuit development and services.

NASA said it had received proposals from the two companies for the contract, but didn’t provide details on why it chose Axiom. Both companies are potential candidates for future contracts involving ISS spacesuit development and “recurring spacesuit services” for subsequent Artemis missions.

“Our team at Axiom Space is honored to have been awarded this first contract to build the next-generation space suit,” said Michael Suffredini, President and CEO of Axiom Space, in a statement. “Our upgraded, evolving spacesuits will allow for rapid upgrades to implement better and safer technology over time, ensuring our astronauts are always equipped with high-performance, robust gear.”

However, the company has released few details about its lawsuit beyond this statement. Axiom said its suit is based on a NASA-developed reference design called xEMU and includes “increased flexibility and specialized tools” for lunar exploration. However, it hasn’t even released a picture of the full suit: an illustration attached to the press release showed only the suit’s helmet and torso, much of it in shadow.

NASA’s decision to use Axiom surprised some in the industry who thought the company was more interested in space suits to support its planned commercial space station. In contrast, Collins Aerospace emphasized its work on lunar space suit designs when announcing its xEVAS contract in June, showing concepts of the suit. Collins officially opened an 11,000-square-foot facility in Houston on Aug. 31 that will be used for space suit development.

Axiom says it remains interested in ISS spacesuit development. “We are pleased to provide our expertise to meet NASA’s exploration needs while serving our commercial customers in low Earth orbit and fulfilling the goals of future space stations that enable a commercial space economy,” Suffredini said in the statement.

In a source selection statement released by NASA after announcing xEVAS contracts to Axiom and Collins, the agency noted a “very high level of commonality” between the Artemis and ISS versions of both companies’ suits. However, both companies are dependent on “rapid acceleration of technology readiness and resolution of key technical commercial studies” to complete their spacesuits on schedule.

While that statement didn’t include specific pricing, it did say that Axiom offered a lower price than Collins. The Axiom proposal was 23% below NASA’s independent government cost estimate, while Collins was 2% below. NASA did not disclose the value of this cost estimate.

Axiom is working with several other companies developing xEVAS suits, including KBR, Air-Lock, Arrow Science and Technology, David Clark Company, Paragon Space Development Corporation, Sophic Synergistics and APT Research. While these companies have experience in space suits, life support and related work, the NASA source selection statement warned that none had demonstrated relevant previous performance on one aspect of the suit, the pressure clothing system, which KBR would be responsible for manufacturing.