The NASA audit office recently dedicated
a report to future space suits. He mentioned a development delay that could have an impact on the progress of the Artemis mission, reports Numerama. “In view of these delays foreseen in the development of the suits, a moon landing at the end of 2024 is not possible”, notes the report. The suits are not expected to be ready until April 2025 at the earliest, according to the document.
The NASA Inspector General’s report indicated that the spacesuits currently in use aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were designed forty-five years ago. Astronaut equipment has been modified and repaired over the years, but it is still obsolete. The audit carried out between August 2020 and July 2021 showed that it would still take “several years to complete” the development of the suits.
Flight software: installed ✅
The flight software will help steer, fly, track, and guide @NASA_SLS during the #Artemis I launch and ascent to space. Next up: final checkouts and tests to certify the software for the mission. https://t.co/3mbR4RVGgL pic.twitter.com/XErJrpzf7l
– NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) August 10, 2021
A billion dollars already invested
NASA has already invested more than a billion dollars in their development, reports CNN. General Paul K. Martin, author of the report, attributed the delays to the health crisis linked to the coronavirus, insufficient funding as well as technical and organizational difficulties. The audit thus identified no less than 27 different companies involved in the manufacture of the equipment.
The Inspector General of the US space agency has ruled the new capital suits “for the return of humans to the moon, the continued safe operation of the ISS and the exploration of Mars and others. deep space zones ”. However, he also estimated that other factors risked delaying the Artemis mission, and in particular the contestation of the contract granted to SpaceX for the spacecraft that will transport the astronauts to the Moon.