HOUSTON - Collins Aerospace, an Raytheon Technologies business, announced it has been awarded a new task order under NASA's exploration extravehicular activity services (xEVAS) contract to modify the company's current spacesuit to support lunar endeavors.
The follow-on task order allows Charlotte, North Carolina's Collins to add on to the company's new spacesuit design, developing elements that are compatible for use on the lunar surface as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Artemis missions.
Collins was awarded a task order valued at $5 million, following a proposal process that required the company to identify the methodologies to develop a crossover product.
Collins' next-generation suit is lower in weight than the current extravehicular mobility unit and will improve astronaut efficiency, range of motion, and comfort. Designed to fit nearly any body type, it also has an open architecture design that enables the suit to be easily modified as missions change and evolve.
As NASA and Collins continue to advance the xEVAS program with events like Collins' upcoming Critical Design Review and testing, such as a thermal vacuum test and underwater tests held at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab, Collins stands ready to help NASA and its international and commercial partners from low Earth Orbit to deep space.
"Our next-generation spacesuit design is nearly 90% compatible with a lunar mission," said Dave Romero, director, EVA & Human Surface Mobility Systems for Collins Aerospace. "This formal contract award will support continued efforts to modify our next-generation spacesuit, making it suitable to tasks on the Moon."
