It's been 50 years since humans first walked on the moon. Since then, astronauts have primarily explored low Earth orbit. Now that NASA is preparing to return to the moon, experts are reevaluating the practicality of the spacesuit.

Ana Diaz Artiles, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, and graduate student Logan Kluis have been working on developments for the SmartSuit, a new spacesuit architecture that would create a safer and better spacesuit environment for Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on planetary surfaces.

The SmartSuit is a spacesuit architecture proposed by Diaz Artiles that focuses on three key improvements to the current suit design; increased mobility, enhanced safety and informed interaction between the environment and the astronaut. Most recently, Diaz Artiles and Kluis, in collaboration with Robert Shepherd, associate professor at Cornell University, have been developing prototypes of soft-robotics assistive actuators for the knee joints.

"The current spacesuit has been designed for microgravity conditions; in these conditions, astronauts don't need to walk or move around using their lower body, they typically translate themselves using their upper body," said Diaz Artiles.