Innovating the Future of Spacesuit Design with Artemis Generation Students
College students collaborate with NASA to develop the next generation of spacesuit technologies
The NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS) Artemis Student Challenge invites undergraduate and graduate students to design spacesuit information displays within augmented reality (AR) environments for future lunar missions.
With the Artemis program underway, NASA is exploring new ways to use AR in spacesuit design, and will continue to invest more resources into developing greater human-autonomy-enabling technologies. The SUITS challenge tackles some of the toughest aspects of lunar exploration, including increased lunar surface demands and extreme terrestrial environments, and aims to develop information systems that will assist astronauts in conducting lunar spacewalks more effectively.
For students interested in pursuing careers in engineering and technology, SUITS provides an unparalleled opportunity to work, hands on, with NASA’s missions and apply classroom knowledge to real-world applications. SUITS equips students with the essential skills, experience, and mindset necessary to excel in their respective fields and encourages multidisciplinary teamwork among students from different majors in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — as well as the arts and communications.
With the 2021 SUITS Challenge kickoff, students and faculty advisors from across the nation expressed their interest in the challenge and began creating teams and brainstorming user interface designs for their written proposals. Representing 38 institutions from 23 different states and 13-minority serving institutions, this year’s participants bring rich and diverse perspectives to the challenge.
Despite the initial setbacks with shifting to a virtual environment, the SUITS team has adapted the challenge to foster an engaging and interactive experience for students. Rather than having teams travel to NASA’s Johnson Space Center to conduct on-site testing, teams will virtually test their devices via video streams, enabling full communications between NASA engineers and students, and simulate a “mission control” environment for the teams to work in.
In addition to the mission-driven, hands-on experience gained from participating in this challenge, SUITS provides students with invaluable educational and professional benefits through outreach activities and networking opportunities. As part of the design challenge, participants are tasked with an outreach component that encourages them to take their knowledge and experiences with SUITS and share them with their communities and institutions. These outreach events allow students to engage with various audiences, including K-12 students, and communicate NASA’s missions and the importance of a STEM education. Additionally, throughout their time with SUITS, students are able to collaborate with NASA engineers and receive detailed feedback on their concepts and designs. These experiences provide excellent networking opportunities for students and can ultimately lead to NASA internships and future careers with the agency.
To announce the teams selected for this year’s challenge, the SUITS team is hosting a live Team Selection Show (click to watch!) on Nov. 17 from 1 to 2 p.m. CST. Teams will be joined by various NASA employees, who are alumni of the participating institutions, to welcome students to the challenge.
Now entering its fourth year, SUITS continues to provide an outlet for young people to contribute real solutions to NASA’s missions and inspire the Artemis Generation. As a past SUITS participant put it, “SUITS is an amazing technical and communications challenge that elevates student-run projects to real-world applicable design challenges. It’s an experience of a lifetime for students with the potential to lead to new opportunities within NASA.”
To learn more about SUITS and NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges, visit stem.nasa.gov/artemis.