Editing Space suit (section)

==Emerging technologies==
{{update|section|inaccurate=y|date=April 2017}}
Several companies and universities are developing technologies and prototypes which represent improvements over current space suits.

=== Additive manufacturing ===
[[3D printing]] (additive manufacturing) can be used to reduce the mass of hard-shell space suits while retaining the high mobility they provide. This fabrication method also allows for the potential for in-suit fabrication and repair of suits, a capability which is not currently available, but will likely be necessary for Martian exploration.<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/handle/2346/73066 |title=In-Situ Fabricated Space Suits for Extended Exploration and Settlement |last1=Bartlett |first1=Harrison |last2=Bowser |first2=Joseph |last3=Callejon Hierro |first3=Carlos |last4=Garner |first4=Sarah |last5=Guloy |first5=Lawrence |last6=Hnatov |first6=Christina |last7=Kalman |first7=Jonathan |last8=Sosis |first8=Baram |last9=Akin |first9=David |date=July 16, 2017 |conference=2017 International Conference on Environmental Systems |conference-url=https://www.ices.space/ |location=Charleston, SC |access-date=December 11, 2018 }}</ref> The [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]] began development of a prototype 3D printed hard suit in 2016, based on the kinematics of the [[Powered exoskeleton#NASA AX-5 hard shell space suit|AX-5]]. The prototype arm segment is designed to be evaluated in the [[Space Systems Laboratory (Maryland)|Space Systems Laboratory]] glovebox to compare mobility to traditional soft suits. Initial research has focused on the feasibility of printing rigid suit elements, bearing races, ball bearings, seals, and sealing surfaces.<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/handle/2346/74196 |title=Developing Technologies and Techniques for Additive Manufacturing of Spacesuit Bearings and Seals |last1=Garner |first1=Sarah |last2=Carpenter |first2=Lemuel |last3=Akin |first3=David |date=July 8, 2018 |conference=2018 International Conference on Environmental Systems |conference-url=https://www.ices.space/ |location=Albuquerque, NM |access-date=December 11, 2018 }}</ref>

=== Astronaut Glove Challenge ===
There are certain difficulties in designing a dexterous space suit glove and there are limitations to the current designs. For this reason, the [[Centennial Challenges#Astronaut glove challenge|Centennial Astronaut Glove Challenge]] was created to build a better glove. Competitions have been held in 2007 and 2009, and another is planned. The 2009 contest required the glove to be covered with a micro-meteorite layer.

===Aouda.X===
[[File:Aouda.X space suit simulator.jpg|thumb|upright|Aouda.X]]
Since 2009, the [[Austrian Space Forum]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oewf.org/cms/polares_suit.phtml |title=Spacesuit-simulator 'Aouda.X' |work=PolAres |publisher=[[Austrian Space Forum]] |access-date=June 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529104536/http://www.oewf.org/cms/polares_suit.phtml |archive-date=May 29, 2013  }}</ref> has been developing "Aouda.X", an experimental Mars [[Human analog missions|analogue]] space suit focusing on an advanced [[human–machine interface]] and on-board computing network to increase [[Situation awareness|situational awareness]]. The suit is designed to study contamination vectors in planetary exploration analogue environments and create limitations depending on the pressure regime chosen for a simulation.

Since 2012, for the [[Austrian Space Forum#Mars2013 - Morocco Mars Simulation 2013|Mars2013 analogue mission]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oewf.org/cms/mars2013.phtml |title=Morocco 2013 Mars Analogue Field Simulation |work=PolAres |publisher=Austrian Space Forum |access-date=June 19, 2013}}</ref> by the Austrian Space Forum to [[Erfoud]], [[Morocco]], the Aouda.X analogue space suit has a sister in the form of Aouda.S.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Mars 2013 - Morocco Mars Analog Field Simulation |publisher=Austrian Space Forum |url=http://www.oewf.org/cms/mars-2013-press-information.phtml |access-date=June 19, 2013  |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130624190103/http://www.oewf.org/cms/mars-2013-press-information.phtml |archive-date=June 24, 2013 }}</ref> This is a slightly less sophisticated suit meant primarily to assist Aouda.X operations and be able to study the interactions between two (analogue) astronauts in similar suits.

The Aouda.X and Aouda.S space suits have been named after the [[Aouda|fictional princess]] from the [[Jules Verne]]'s 1873 novel ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]''. A public display mock-up of Aouda.X (called Aouda.D) is currently on display at the Dachstein Ice Cave in [[Obertraun]], [[Austria]], after the experiments done there in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.oewf.org/en/2012/08/aouda-d-ice-princess/ |title=Aouda.D, ice princess |work=PolAres |publisher=Austrian Space Forum |type=Blog |access-date=June 19, 2013}}</ref>

=== Axiom Space and Prada ===
In 2024, at the [[International Astronautical Congress]] in Milan, Italy, Axiom Space and Prada showed the results of an ongoing collaboration to develop a spacesuit for NASA's Artemis III mission.<ref name=":3" />

===Bio-Suit===
[[Bio-Suit]] is a [[space activity suit]] under development at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], which {{as of|2006|lc=on}} consisted of several lower leg prototypes. Bio-suit is custom fit to each wearer, using laser body scanning.{{update after|2015|2|28}}

=== Constellation Space Suit system ===
On August 2, 2006, NASA indicated plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the design, development, certification, production, and sustaining engineering of the [[Constellation Space Suit]] to meet the needs of the [[Constellation program|Constellation Program]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid=121486 |title=CONSTELLATION SPACE SUIT SYSTEM (CSSS), SOL NNJ06161022R |work=[[NASA Acquisition Internet Service]] |publisher=NASA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730021056/http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid=121486 |archive-date=July 30, 2009 |access-date=June 19, 2013}}</ref> NASA foresaw a single suit capable of supporting: survivability during launch, entry and abort; [[Weightlessness|zero-gravity]] EVA; lunar surface EVA; and Mars surface EVA.

On June 11, 2008, NASA awarded a US$745 million contract to [[Oceaneering International]] to create the new space suit.<ref>{{cite news |title=Get your first look at NASA's next spacesuit |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25130313 |agency=Associated Press |work=[[NBCNews.com]] |date=June 12, 2008 |access-date=June 19, 2013}}</ref>

=== Final Frontier Design IVA Space Suit===

[[File:FFD IVA Space Suit.jpg|thumb|upright|Final Frontier Design IVA Space Suit]]
[[Final Frontier Design]] (FFD) is developing a commercial full IVA space suit, with their first suit completed in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/8774-inventors-unveil-private-spacesuit-york.html |title=Inventors to Unveil Private Spacesuit in New York |website=[[Space.com]] |date=July 16, 2010 |access-date=July 17, 2010 }}</ref> FFD's suits are intended as a light-weight, highly mobile, and inexpensive commercial space suits. Since 2011, FFD has upgraded IVA suit's designs, hardware, processes, and capabilities. FFD has built a total of 7 IVA space suit (2016) assemblies for various institutions and customers since founding, and has conducted high fidelity human testing in simulators, aircraft, microgravity, and hypobaric chambers. FFD has a Space Act Agreement with NASA's Commercial Space Capabilities Office to develop and execute a Human Rating Plan for FFD IVA suit.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/december/nasa-selects-commercial-space-partners-for-collaborative-partnerships/#.VJmkYBGdA |title=NASA Selects Commercial Space Partners for Collaborative Partnerships |date=December 23, 2014 |access-date=December 24, 2010 }}</ref> FFD categorizes their IVA suits according to their mission: Terra for Earth-based testing, Stratos for high altitude flights, and Exos for orbital space flights. Each suit category has different requirements for manufacturing controls, validations, and materials, but are of a similar architecture.

===I-Suit===
The [[I-Suit]] is a space suit prototype also constructed by ILC Dover, which incorporates several design improvements over the EMU, including a weight-saving soft upper torso. Both the Mark III and the I-Suit have taken part in NASA's annual [[Desert Research and Technology Studies]] (D-RATS) field trials, during which suit occupants interact with one another, and with rovers and other equipment.

===Mark III===
The [[Mark III (space suit)|Mark III]] is a NASA prototype, constructed by ILC Dover, which incorporates a hard lower torso section and a mix of soft and hard components. The Mark III is markedly more mobile than previous suits, despite its high operating pressure ({{convert|57|kPa|psi|abbr=on|disp=or}}), which makes it a "zero-prebreathe" suit, meaning that astronauts would be able to transition directly from a one-atmosphere, mixed-gas space station environment, such as that on the International Space Station, to the suit, without risking decompression sickness, which can occur with rapid depressurization from an atmosphere containing nitrogen or another inert gas.

=== MX-2 ===<!-- This section is linked from [[MX-2]] -->
The MX-2 is a space suit analogue constructed at the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]]'s Space Systems Laboratory. The MX-2 is used{{when|date=February 2015}} for crewed [[neutral buoyancy]] testing at the Space Systems Lab's Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility. By approximating the work envelope of a real EVA suit, without meeting the requirements of a flight-rated suit, the MX-2 provides an inexpensive platform for EVA research, compared to using EMU suits at facilities like NASA's [[Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory]].

The MX-2 has an operating pressure of 2.5–4 psi. It is a rear-entry suit, featuring a fiberglass [[Hard Upper Torso|HUT]]. Air, LCVG cooling water, and power are open loop systems, provided through an [[Umbilical cable|umbilical]]. The suit contains a [[Mac Mini]]{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} computer to capture sensor data, such as suit pressure, inlet and outlet air temperatures, and heart rate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ssl.umd.edu/projects/MARSsuit/index.shtml |title=MARS Suit: MX-2 |website=[[Space Systems Laboratory (Maryland)|Space Systems Laboratory]] |publisher=[[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]] |location=College Park, MD |access-date=June 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903111105/http://ssl.umd.edu/projects/MARSsuit/index.shtml |archive-date=September 3, 2012  }}</ref> Resizable suit elements and adjustable ballast allow the suit to accommodate subjects ranging in height from {{convert|68|to(-)|75|in|cm}}, and with a weight range of {{convert|120|lb|abbr=on}}.{{clarify|weight range from what to what?|date=September 2023}}<ref>{{cite conference |chapter-url=http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/2006-01-2287 |chapter=System Overview and Operations of the MX-2 Neutral Buoyancy Space Suit Analogue |first1=Shane E. |last1=Jacobs |first2=David L. |last2=Akin |first3=Jeffrey R. |last3=Braden |title=SAE Technical Paper Series |date=July 17, 2006 |volume=1 |conference=International Conference On Environmental Systems |publisher=[[SAE International]] |id=2006-01-2287 |doi=10.4271/2006-01-2287 |access-date=June 12, 2007}}</ref>

===North Dakota suit===
Beginning in May 2006, five [[North Dakota]] colleges collaborated on a new space suit prototype, funded by a US$100,000 grant from NASA, to demonstrate technologies which could be incorporated into a planetary suit. The suit was tested in the [[Theodore Roosevelt National Park]] [[badlands]] of western North Dakota. The suit has a mass of {{convert|47|lb}} without a life support backpack, and costs only a fraction of the standard US$12,000,000 cost for a flight-rated NASA space suit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.howstuffworks.com/space-suit4.htm |title=How Space Suits Work |last=Freudenrich |first=Craig |website=[[HowStuffWorks]] |date=December 14, 2000 |publisher=[[Discovery Communications]] |location=Atlanta, GA |access-date=June 19, 2013}}</ref>  The suit was developed in just over a year by students from the [[University of North Dakota]], [[North Dakota State University|North Dakota State]], [[Dickinson State University|Dickinson State]], the state [[North Dakota State College of Science|College of Science]] and [[Turtle Mountain Community College]].<ref>{{cite news |title=That's one small step toward Mars mission |first=James |last=MacPherson |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060507/news_1n7suit.html |agency=[[Associated Press]] |work=[[U-T San Diego|The San Diego Union-Tribune]] |date=May 7, 2006 |access-date=June 19, 2013}}</ref> The mobility of the North Dakota suit can be attributed to its low operating pressure; while the North Dakota suit was field tested at a pressure of {{convert|1|psi|kPa Torr|abbr=on}} differential, NASA's EMU suit operates at a pressure of {{convert|4.7|psi|kPa Torr|abbr=on}}, a pressure designed to supply approximately sea-level oxygen partial pressure for [[Respiratory system|respiration]] (see discussion [[#Operating pressure|above]]).

===PXS===
NASA's Prototype eXploration Suit (PXS), like the Z-series, is a rear-entry suit compatible with suitports.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/30360-the-martian-movie-nasa-mars-technology.html |title='The Martian' Shows 9 Ways NASA Tech Is Headed to Mars |last=Howell |first=Elizabeth |work=space.com |date=August 25, 2015 |access-date=December 18, 2015 }}</ref> The suit has components which could be 3D printed during missions to a range of specifications, to fit different individuals or changing mobility requirements.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-next-generation-of-suit-technologies |title=The Next Generation of Suit Technologies |publisher=NASA |date=October 1, 2015 |access-date=December 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151215072049/http://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-next-generation-of-suit-technologies/ |archive-date=December 15, 2015  }}</ref>

=== Suitports ===
A [[suitport]] is a theoretical alternative to an [[airlock]], designed for use in hazardous environments and in [[human spaceflight]], especially [[planet]]ary surface exploration. In a suitport system, a rear-entry space suit is attached and sealed against the outside of a spacecraft, such that an astronaut can enter and seal up the suit, then go on EVA, without the need for an airlock or depressurizing the spacecraft cabin. Suitports require less mass and volume than airlocks, provide [[dust]] mitigation, and prevent cross-contamination of the inside and outside environments. Patents for suitport designs were filed in 1996 by Philip Culbertson Jr. of NASA's Ames Research Center and in 2003 by Joerg Boettcher, Stephen Ransom, and Frank Steinsiek.<ref name = culbertson>{{cite web
  | last = Culbertson
  | first = Philip Jr.
  | title = Suitlock docking mechanism – United States Patent 5697108
  | publisher = freepatentsonline.com
  | date = September 30, 1996
  | url = http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5697108.html
  | access-date =June 15, 2006 }}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
  | last1 = Boettcher
  | first1 = Joerg
  | last2 =  Ransom
  | first2 = Stephen
  | last3 = Steinsiek
  | first3 = Frank
  | title =  Apparatus and method for putting on a protective suit – United States Patent 6959456
  | publisher = freepatentsonline.com
  | date = July 17, 2003
  | url = http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6959456.html
  | access-date =June 15, 2006 }}</ref>

===Z-series===
{{Main|Z series space suits}}
[[File:Z-1 Spacesuit Prototype - standing Nov 2012.jpg|thumbnail|upright|right|Z-1 Series Suit]]
In 2012, NASA introduced the Z-1 space suit, the first in the Z-series of space suit prototypes designed by NASA specifically for planetary extravehicular activity. The Z-1 space suit includes an emphasis on mobility and protection for space missions. It features a soft torso versus the hard torsos seen in previous NASA EVA space suits, which reduces mass.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=TIME Staff|title=NASA's Z-1 Space Suit|url=https://techland.time.com/2012/11/01/best-inventions-of-the-year-2012/slide/nasas-z-1-space-suit/|magazine=TIME|publisher=TIME Magazine|access-date=17 February 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220013042/http://techland.time.com/2012/11/01/best-inventions-of-the-year-2012/slide/nasas-z-1-space-suit/|archive-date=February 20, 2015}}</ref> It has been labeled the "Buzz Lightyear suit" due to its green streaks for a design.

In 2014, NASA released the design for the Z-2 prototype, the next model in the Z-series. NASA conducted a poll asking the public to decide on a design for the Z-2 space suit. The designs, created by fashion students from Philadelphia University, were "Technology", "Trends in Society", and "Biomimicry".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kirkpatrick|first1=Nick|title=Intergalactic fashion: NASA's next space suit|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/15/intergalactic-fashion-nasas-next-space-suit/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=17 February 2015}}</ref> The design "Technology" won, and the prototype is built with technologies like [[3D printing]]. The Z-2 suit will also differ from the Z-1 suit in that the torso reverts to the hard shell, as seen in NASA's EMU suit.<ref>{{cite news|last1=CBC News|title=New Mars space suit unveiled by NASA|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/new-mars-space-suit-unveiled-by-nasa-1.2628383|access-date=17 February 2015|agency=CBC/Radio-Canada|date=1 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The NASA Z-2 Suit|url=http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/z2/|website=NASA.gov|publisher=NASA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329003404/http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/z2/|archive-date=March 29, 2014}}</ref>