The United States is well on its way to sending humans back to the moon, and China is not far behind. In fact, the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) hopes to send its own astronauts to the moon by 2030, and they made their debut. space suit To do that. But the name is still up in the air.
as space news According to reports, CMSA unveiled a new extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit at an event held in Chongqing, China, on September 28. The rollout, modeled by China’s second female astronaut Wang Yaping and fellow astronaut Zhai Zhiguan, focused almost exclusively on the spacesuit’s external features. Ta. Notably, each new suit is significantly slimmer and lighter than CMSA’s Fatian EVA suits used in low Earth orbit, and is covered with protective fabric to protect against wild temperature swings and lunar dust. It also includes both short and long focal length cameras, as well as a panoramic anti-glare visor. Unlike its predecessor, the Lunar Suit provides much more flexibility when traversing the Moon.
Representatives explained that apart from practicality, aesthetics were also important at the design stage. According to CNNThe primarily white spacesuit has a ribbon-like red stripe across the top, inspired by the flying Apsaras, gods of ancient Chinese art. Meanwhile, the stiffer stripes on the legs are meant to imitate the “flame of a rocket launch,” said Zhang Wanxin, director of the CMSA engineering office. Chinese surveillance camera It is said that it expresses the motif of “strong will and unwavering” like armor. In an announcement this weekend, CMSA officials tasked the public with helping name the new suit, which will be chosen at a later date.
Credit: CMSA
[Related: Polaris Dawn astronauts complete historic first commercial spacewalk.]
China recently successfully completed the Chang’e 6 mission, with the unmanned spacecraft returning to Earth with the first-ever samples recovered from the far side of the moon. CMSA plans to send additional robotic spacecraft to the lunar south pole in 2026 and 2028 for further resource analysis, prior to the possibility of building a permanent base. If Chinese astronauts reach the moon’s surface by the end of 2020, they will tentatively spend six hours on the surface before returning home.
China is not the only country updating its astronauts’ spacesuits. Last year, NASA unveiled the next-generation EVA design courtesy of Axiom Space, while the Polaris Dawn mission’s first-ever commercial spacewalk showed off SpaceX’s latest outfit. If all goes according to plan, NASA hopes to send Artemis 3 astronauts into lunar orbit by September 2026, but the launch window is increasingly likely to be pushed back. The same is likely to happen with the Artemis 4 moon landing, currently scheduled for 2028.
Credit: CMSA
