NASA's Next Generation Spacesuit Program Faces Setback as Collins Aerospace Backs Out

Two years ago, NASA chose two private companies to design and develop next generation spacesuits, that would be used to perform spacewalks outside the International Space Station (ISS) and walking on the Moon as part of the Artemis program.

However, this ambitious plan has encountered a significant hurdle, as one of the selected spacesuit providers, Collins Aerospace, is expected to withdraw from the project. This development is a setback for NASA, which urgently needs modern spacesuits to replace its aging fleet.

NASA's Apollo-era suits were retired long ago, and the current suits used for spacewalks in low-Earth orbit are four decades old.

"These new capabilities will allow us to continue on the ISS and allow us to do the Artemis program and continue on to Mars," - Vanessa Wyche, Director of Johnson Space Center

The two winning teams for the spacesuit development contracts were led by Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space. They were eligible for task orders worth up to $3.5 billion, essentially leasing the use of these suits to NASA for a couple of decades.

NASA designated Axiom Space to focus on developing a suit for the Moon and the Artemis Program, while Collins Aerospace was tasked with developing a suit for in-orbit operations, such as space station servicing.

Collins Aerospace's Exit

This week, Collins Aerospace is expected to end its participation in the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract as on Tuesday morning, Chris Ayers, general manager at Collins Aerospace, informed employees about the company's exit from the program.

"Unfortunately, Collins has been significantly behind schedule...Collins has admitted they have drastically underperformed and have overspent on their xEVAS work, culminating in a request to be taken off the contract or renegotiate the scope and their budget." - Source failure with situation

NASA has been experiencing periodic problems with maintaining the decades-old Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) suits, which debuted in the 1980s. NASA has acknowledged that these suits have exceeded their planned design lifetime. Just this Monday, the agency had to halt a spacewalk after the airlock had been depressurized and the hatch opened due to a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit of astronaut Tracy Dyson's spacesuit.

As a result, NASA will likely only be able to conduct a single spacewalk this summer, down from the initially planned three, to complete work outside the ISS.

Increased Pressure on Axiom Space

During the bidding process for the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract in 2021 and 2022, just two bidders emerged.

Collins Aerospace, was the bidder with the most experience in spacesuits, having designed the original Apollo suits, and it partnered with experienced providers ILC Dover and Oceaneering. Axiom Space is a newer company that, until the spacesuit competition, was largely focused on developing a private space station.

As they evaluated bids, NASA officials raised some concerns about Collins' approach, noting that the proposal relied on "rapid acceleration of technology maturation and resolution of key technical trade studies to achieve their proposed schedule." However, in its source selection statement, the agency concluded that it had a "high level of confidence" that Collins would be able to deliver on its spacesuits.

It is not clear what NASA will do now. NASA could re-compete the xEVAS contract but is unlikely as it could signal to private investors that Axiom Space is not capable of delivering on its spacesuit contracts. Axiom Space, like many other companies in this capital-constrained era, has been struggling to raise a steady stream of private investment.

Another options would be for NASA to bring a new partner on board to compete with Axiom Space. The space agency did something similar in 2007 with its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program to provide cargo to the space station. When Rocketplane Kistler could not deliver on its commitments, NASA recompeted the contract and ultimately selected Orbital Sciences. If NASA re-opens the competition, one potential bidder could be SpaceX, which has already designed a basic spacesuit to support the private Polaris Dawn mission.

Since the awards two years ago, Axiom Space has made comparatively better technical progress on its spacesuit, which is based on the EMU design that NASA has used for decades. However, the Houston-based company has yet to complete the critical design review process, which can be demanding. Axiom Space is also battling a difficult supply chain environment, which is especially problematic given that NASA has not built new suits for such a long time.