Audit Report: ISS Spacesuit Issues

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Image (Credit): Figure from the NASA OIG audit report, NASA’s Management of ISS Extravehicular Activity Spacesuits. (NASA OIG)

NASA has spent a significant amount of money on the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits used during spacewalks on the International Space Station (ISS). Even so, these suits have ongoing problems that need to be resolved given that they will be critical to the ISS mission until the decommissioning of the station in 2030.

The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has reported on issues with these spacesuits in the past and recently issued a new report on the status of the spacesuits. In its September 30th report, NASA’s Management of ISS Extravehicular Activity Spacesuit, the auditors noted that the contractor maintaining the spacesuits, Collins Aerospace, is having problems, including:

…considerable schedule delays, cost overruns, and quality issues that significantly increase the risk to maintaining NASA’s spacewalking capability.

The auditors stated that lack of competition for these spacesuit services as well as ineffective contract incentives are making the problems a permanent part of the program. While NASA has promoted competition for many years, these spacesuits designed 50 years ago have not benefited from this new approach, in part because the companies that feed into the supply line are slowly disappearing.

It seems dual-use rockets are much more in demand than antique spacesuits, potentially making spacesuits one of the weaker links in the space industry.

Note: Collins Aerospace ended a separate contract with NASA last year to develop a new ISS EMU. Collins continues with its contract to maintain the current EMU.

Study Findings: Lunar Surface and Subsurface Water Revealed by Chang’e-6

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Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Chang’e-6 probe. (China Daily)

Nature Astronomy abstract of the study findings:

The processes driving the formation and distribution of lunar water (OH/H2O), particularly in the subsurface, remain poorly understood. An opportunity to study subsurface water comes from lander plumes, which can displace and expose millimetre- to centimetre-sized regolith during the descent of the lander. Here we analyse data from the Chang’e-6 landing site and find that plume-disturbed areas exhibit distinct temperature and water-content patterns, which are driven by the redistribution of fine regolith. The average water content of the exposed fine regolith of the shallow subsurface is ~76 ppm, which is lower than the surface abundance of ~105 ppm measured at the surface. The Chang’e-6 landing site also contains on average approximately twice the water content than the Chang’e-5 one. Temporal variations of water content are observed at identical locations but different local times, exhibiting a minimum at local noon. We suggest that the differences in water content are correlated with the regolith glass abundance, particle sizes, depths and local times, reinforcing the hypothesis that solar wind implantation and impact gardening govern lunar water formation and distribution.

Citation: Liu, B., Zeng, X., Xu, R. et al. Lunar surface and subsurface water revealed by Chang’e-6. Nat Astron (2025).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02668-7

Study-related story:

Chinese Academy of Sciences – “Chang’e-6 Probe Data Reveal Water Distribution on Moon”

Pic of the Week: Sagittarius B2

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Image (Credit): Sagittarius B2 as captured by the JWST. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida), Nazar Budaiev (University of Florida), Taehwa Yoo (University of Florida); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI))

This week’s busy image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud, which is about 26,000 light-years away.

Here is more from NASA about the image:

Stars, gas and cosmic dust in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud glow in near-infrared light, captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). In this light, astronomers see more of the region’s diverse, colorful stars, but less of its gas and dust structure. Webb’s instruments each provide astronomers with important information that help build a more complete picture of what is happening in this intriguing portion of the center of our galaxy.

We Need More Ukrainian Initiative in the Space Industry

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Image (Credit): The Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missile. (Fire Point)

It is a sad truth that war can create some useful items that propel mankind forward. Maybe these inventions would have occurred anyway, but the desire to survive can certainly stimulate the mind.

Ukraine is a perfect example. Recent stories about its Flamingo cruise missile indicate that the same Ukranian know-how that created the drones was also used to design a cruise missile that costs $500,000 a piece and can penetrate deep into Russian territory. Such quick innovation by Fire Point, the Ukrainian defense firm that created the new cruise missile, puts even Elon Musk to shame (remember, Musk tried to start SpaceX with old Russian rockets).

Ukraine has already knocked about 20 percent of Russia’s petroleum producing capacity offline, and now this. With a range of approximately 1,800 miles, the Flamingo has plenty of military targets that can severely damage Russia’s war-making capabilities.

Just think if all of this ingenuity had been put towards a peaceful space program. Of course, this war too shall end, and Ukraine may have some promising industries that can be quickly retooled for a space program.

Ukraine had a strong space industry when it was part of the USSR, and these latest foolhardy efforts by Putin to reestablish that Soviet empire may instead only reestablish the Ukranian space industry.

Space Stories: Dragonfly Issues, NASA Under a Government Shutdown, and Threats from Venus

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Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Dragonfly on Titan. (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Physics World: “NASA Criticized Over its Management of $3.3bn Dragonfly Mission to Titan“

An internal audit has slammed NASA over its handling of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The drone-like rotorcraft, which is designed to land on and gather samples from Titan, has been hit by a two-year delay, with costs surging by $1bn to $3.3bn. NASA now envisions a launch date of July 2028 with Dragonfly arriving at Titan in 2034.

—USAToday: “Do Rockets Still Launch During a Government Shutdown? How NASA Could Feel the Effects“

NASA is far from immune to the effects of a looming government shutdown if congressional leaders fail to reach an agreement before midnight Oct. 1 to prevent one. At stake for the U.S. space agency if the federal government grinds to a halt? The progress of many of its science missions and access to its public outreach arm. NASA’s contingency plan for a shutdown, outlined in a guide from 2018, emphasizes that only “activities which are necessary to prevent harm to life or property” would be exempt from ceasing operations during a shutdown.

—Earth Sky: “‘Invisible’ Asteroids Near Venus: A New Danger to Earth?“

Astronomers across the globe are dedicated to identifying the near-Earth asteroids that could one day impact our planet. But there might be a group of potentially dangerous nearby asteroids that have remained invisible to astronomers so far. On September 24, 2025, an international team of researchers at the São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil said that a group of asteroids sharing Venus’ orbit could have remained undetected so far due to their location in the sky. And they could pose a threat to Earth within a few thousand years.