>>11065011I'm not a fan of NASA's suit design myself, but the advantages of the xEMU are:
>1It's PLSS is more advanced, oxygen scrubbing is much better which gives the astronaut a greater maximum endurance threshold which will allow them to work for longer than before.
>2The suit's joints are greatly improved compared to the Apollo EMU, allowing for a greater range of mobility up to and including natural walking, touching one's own helmet and shoulders and raising the hands above the head, a forward ab crunch and independent swiveling of the upper body.
>3The suit is modular, it is being designed from the ground up to accept future improvements without the necessity for expert maintenance, this will lower both manufacture costs and ease of use because it will no longer rely on the skills of no more than a dozen people to maintain and construct xEMU suits.
You are fundamentally hitting on something true, the xEMU should be radically superior to the Apollo EMU, not just a moderate iteration on that old system, however it is an improvement. Yes, the old EMU allowed astronauts to walk on the moon, the xEMU will allow them to do it more easily, with a better range of movement, less fatigue, and longer safe operational time.
