NASA's new spacesuits will help astronauts CHILL and survive over 100°C on the Moon

NASA wants you to imagine being an astronaut, who is exploring the lunar surface while facing blistering temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Celsius. Since the agency is committed to sending humans to the Moon, it is now focusing on designing spacesuits that can withstand the aforementioned condition. The solution to this problem might be the Spacesuit Evaporation Rejection Flight Experiment (SERFE) which is currently being tested both aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and here on Earth. 

Spacesuits then and now

Under these experiments, scientists are testing spacesuits with a built-in water-cooling system. The new spacesuit design also includes pressure sensors, the ability to release warm water vapour into space, and the ability to maintain a set temperature using a thermal control loop. In the video shared above, NASA has explained the entire history of spacesuits starting from the Apollo era in the 1960s. 

Apart from the ongoing experiments aboard the space station, engineers have been performing the exact same test on the ground at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in an identical SERFE unit. The SERFE is basically an oven-sized device whose job is to maintain a constant supply of water throughout the spacesuits. Since the astronauts will be carrying the device on their back while traversing up and down lunar hills, sampling rocks, and setting up equipment, engineers are working to make it compact. 

According to NASA, the concept of using water as a coolant dates back to the Apollo era. At the time, scientists had decided to run cool water through a garment that covers the body to help the astronauts avoid overheating. Surprisingly, astronauts currently at the space station still use the suits developed in the 1970s for spacewalks. While water is still used as a coolant, NASA believes that there is still scope for improvements. As for the new spacesuits, the agency says that it will share its newest designs, research, and data with the commercial industry to jointly build the next-generation spacesuit.