Surprisingly, in a new report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), humans will not be able to land on the Moon in 2024, as predicted by the Artemis mission program. The spacesuits, called xEMUs on which $420 million has already been spent, will not be ready by then. According to estimates, the forms will be ready no later than April 2025.
credit: NASA
the Artemis mission From NASA, who will attend first opera singer and the The first black person On the color, suffered a severe setback in the expected schedule. the new drop On Earth’s MoonActually, that can’t happen by 2024, the year the US space agency has been targeting since the announcement. The reason is that the EVO modules of the revolutionary expedition will not be ready by then xEMU, or the space suits of the latest generation will allow you to walk on lunar regulars.
It might seem silly, considering that a file astronauts They already went to the moon 50 years ago – With the Apollo missions Today, they are engaged in continuous work.Eva‘(Extravehicular Activities) outside International Space Station (ISS), new suits play an essential role in restoring our planet’s companion. Just thinking xEMUs are in development 14 years ago already It was then spent 420 million dollars per project and prototypes, but NASA estimates that they will invest a total of about 1 billion dollars For the final product, that is Two suits for landing on the moon it’s a demonstration model To be tested on the International Space Station.
To announce the dramatic delay a New report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the US agency. The program, according to a NASA document, is currently well behind 20 months “In designing, verifying and testing suits”. That means it won’t be available in November 2024, when everything should have been ready to go back to the moon. At current rates, it is estimated that the first complete models will be available Not before April 2025, shifting one of the key phases of the Artemis mission forward several months. “A landing on the moon in late 2024, as currently planned by NASA, is not possible”, Wipe the igo document.
The situation is made even more paradoxical due to the fact that in 2019 the prototypes of xEMU They made a big fuss by former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. To wear a mannequin, Dr. Kristen Davis, has been at the forefront of the suits research and development program. Among the announced features, one Increase body movement Compared to those used by Neil Armstrong and his colleagues to land on the Moon, it could also be used during extravehicular activities. The new ones gloves, they will also allow you to move individual fingers, while life support It will be designed to ensure survival in extreme temperatures Between – 156°C and 121°C. Since the effective method for removal has not yet been developed liquids NS organic waste From the astronauts (read urine and feces), whoever wears them will still have to wear diapers.
The production of such suits is very expensive and requires many tests and examinations, but almost no one or anyone could have imagined similar consequences for a return to the Moon. The hope is that all the problems encountered will be resolved as soon as possible and the landing on the Earth satellite will not be postponed until after 2025. In the meantime, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, that they are “available” to collaborate on setting up xEMUs. All that remains is to wait for further developments.
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