When the brain behind Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk is not tweeting about digging tunnels and killer robots, he is unveiling the new Space Suit made by his company SpaceX for future space explorations. Musk on Wednesday, August 23 revealed to the world what the new SpaceX space suits would look like. The images were shared on Musk’s Instagram account and are planned to be used in the future missions. SpaceX is working closely with NASA to conduct its first space mission in 2018 and will probably head for Mars at some time in the mid-2020s.
Elon Musk unveils SpaceX space suits
Musk in the Instagram post stated that these were the first pictures of the SpaceX space suit. He further stated that more pictures would follow in the upcoming days. Musk mentioned in the caption that the pictures posted were actual works and not mock-ups, generated by computer CGI. Moreover, he also said that the double vacuum pressure of the space suits has already been tested.
If everything goes according to the plan, SpaceX will be testing these space suits in an uncrewed mission scheduled to be held in February 2018. Following that SpaceX will join hands with NASA to send them on a mission in June 2018 under the agency's Commercial Crew Program. If SpaceX successfully conducts the upcoming space explorations along with NASA, it would be the first private company in the world to send humans into space.
SpaceX Currently faces competition from Boeing, who is planning its first manned mission in August 2018. Mask revealed on Sunday, August 20 that the space X spacesuits have undergone extreme testing.
First picture of SpaceX spacesuit. More in days to follow. Worth noting that this actually works… https://t.co/5ZtqkKiTQX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2017
SpaceX spacesuits to be used in Dragon 2 capsules
Design and manufacture of a spacesuit are not easy tasks, as was determined by a report revealed earlier in 2017.
The report stated that NASA is still years away from developing a spacesuit suitable for deep space travel despite spending $200 million toward development in the past eight years. The U.S. based space agency originally owned 18 space suits, which has now come down to 11.
The SpaceX spacesuit was designed and developed for use in the Dragon 2 space capsules, another SpaceX product.
The Dragon 2 space capsules have been scheduled to transport astronauts to space from 2018. The capsules are autonomous and are designed to carry around seven astronauts to the International Space Station. Much like the Falcon 9 rockets, which can be reused after their first flight, the Dragon 2 spacecraft can also be reused for another mission. This feature not only saves time but also reduces the flight costs.
