NASA
Almost exactly two years ago, as it prepared for the next generation of human spaceflight, NASA chose a pair of private companies to design and develop new spacesuits. These were to be new spacesuits that would allow astronauts to both perform spacewalks outside the International Space Station and walk on the moon as part of the Artemis program.
Now that plan appears to be in trouble, with one of the spacesuit providers – Collins Aerospace – expected to pull out, Ars has learned. It’s a blow to NASA, because the space agency really needs modern spacesuits.
NASA’s Apollo-era suits have long been discontinued. The current suits used for spacewalks in low Earth orbit are forty years old. “These new capabilities will allow us to continue on the ISS and allow us to execute the Artemis program and advance to Mars,” Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche said during a festive press conference in Houston two years ago.
The two winning teams were led by Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space respectively. They were eligible for task orders worth up to $3.5 billion – essentially NASA would lease the use of these suits for a few decades. Since then, NASA has designated Axiom to work primarily on a suit for the moon and the Artemis program, and Collins to develop a suit for on-orbit operations such as space station maintenance.
Collins leaves
However, this week Collins said it will likely end its participation in the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services, or xEVAS, contract. On Tuesday morning, Chris Ayers, general manager at Collins Aerospace, met with employees to tell them about the company’s departure from the program. A NASA source confirmed the decision.
“Unfortunately, Collins is significantly behind schedule,” a person familiar with the situation told Ars. “Collins has admitted that they have drastically underperformed and overspent on their xEVAS work, culminating in a request to be removed from the contract or to renegotiate the scope and their budget.”
NASA and Collins Aerospace acknowledged a request for comment sent by Ars early Tuesday morning, but as of noon provided no substantive answers to questions about this action or steps forward.
The agency experiences periodic maintenance problems with the suits built decades ago, known as the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, which made its debut in the 1980s. NASA has acknowledged that the suit has exceeded its planned design life. Just this Monday, the agency had to interrupt a spacewalk after the airlock was depressurized and the hatch opened due to a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical cord of Tracy Dyson’s space suit.
As a result of this problem, NASA will likely be able to conduct only one spacewalk this summer, after initially planning three, to complete work outside the International Space Station.
Increased pressure on Axiom
During the bidding process for the commercial spacesuit program, which took place in 2021 and 2022, only two bidders ultimately emerged. Collins, part of Raytheon Technologies, was the bidder with the most experience in spacesuits, having designed the original Apollo suits, and worked with experienced suppliers ILC Dover and Oceaneering. Axiom is a newer company that until the spacesuit competition focused largely on developing a private space station.
While evaluating the bids, NASA officials expressed some concerns about Collins’ approach, noting that the proposal relied on “rapidly accelerating technology maturation and resolving key technical trade studies to meet the proposed schedule.” However, in its source selection statement, the agency concluded that it had “high confidence” that Collins could deliver on his spacesuits.
It is unclear what NASA will do next. One person suggested that NASA would not try to immediately recompete the xEVAS because it could signal to private investors that Axiom is unable to honor its spacesuit contracts. (Like many other companies in this era of capital constraints, Axiom Space has struggled to attract a steady stream of private investment, according to sources.)
However, another source suggested that NASA would likely try to bring on board a new partner to compete with Axiom. The space agency did something similar in 2007 with its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program to deliver cargo to the space station. When Rocketplane Kistler was unable to meet its obligations, the agency renewed the contract and ultimately chose Orbital Sciences. If NASA were to reopen the competition, one of the bidders could be SpaceX, which has already designed a basic spacesuit to support the private Polaris Dawn mission.
Since the awards two years ago, Axiom has made relatively better technical progress with its spacesuit, which is based on the Extravehicular Mobility Unit design that NASA has used for decades. However, the Houston-based company has yet to complete the critical design review process, which could be demanding. Axiom also faces a difficult supply chain environment – which is especially problematic considering NASA hasn’t built new suits in so long.