Final Frontier Design Explained

Final Frontier Design
Type:Private
Foundation:2010
Location City:Brooklyn, NYC, NY
Location Country:United States
Key People:Ted Southern (President) Nik Moiseev (Lead Designer)
Industry:Aerospace
Services:space suit design, space suit gloves

Final Frontier Design is a seed-stage startup company that builds and tests spacesuits. The company's products both enable, and are enabled by, the more recent lower-cost access to space epitomized by NewSpace launch companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace.[1] FFD was awarded a Phase I SBIR in 2011 and developed pressure garment glove technology under this contract.

In July 2011, Final Frontier Design won third place in the 2011 NewSpace Business Plan Competition in Silicon Valley, sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation.[2]

In December 2014, Final Frontier Design obtained an official Space Act Agreement with NASA.[3]

Company

Final Frontier Design was founded in 2010 [4] by "artist and designer" Ted Southern, a former Eyebeam resident,[5] and his partner Nikolay Moiseev, "a Russian mechanical engineer," with the intent to "craft affordable yet highly capable spacesuits for a burgeoning commercial spaceflight industry."[6]

Intra-vehicular activity suit

Final Frontier is developing a low-cost commercial inside-the-spacecraft spacesuit called an Intra-Vehicular Activity suit (IVA) which can be pressurized in the event of an emergency, and is projecting to sell the suit at a price of about a fifth of the NASA cost for its existing line of IVA suits that cost around $250,000 each.[7] With the suit weighing a bit under —versus 30 pounds with the NASA suit—could result in economically significant reduction in fuel costs for a flight with a number of astronauts.[8] Final Frontier Design is building its third-generation spacesuit, according to the NASA flight certification standards. Its improvements over the second-generation spacesuit include the ability to withstand greater operating pressure, a carbon fiber waist ring, a retractable helmet, and improved gloves and glove disconnects.[9] The pair took to Kickstarter in June 2012 to raise money for the design and construction of a prototype commercial space suit for intra-vehicular travel — meaning activities that take place inside a spacecraft. Final Frontier had raked in more than $27,000 in July 2012 from 386 backers, exceeding their $20,000 fundraising goal. The goal of the Kickstarter project is to prep a third-generation suit to present to NASA for flight certification by 2013.[10]

Notes and References

  1. News: Foust. Jeff . The evolving ecosystem of NewSpace . 2011-08-15 . The Space Review . 2011-08-16 . Since the term came into vogue about five years ago, supplanting the geekier “alt.space” moniker, it’s been most commonly associated with entrepreneurial ventures developing suborbital and orbital vehicles. ... While an exact, widely-accepted definition of NewSpace still eludes the space community, it’s increasingly clear that constraining the scope of NewSpace to vehicle developers is too limiting. ... SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace, ... New companies are emerging that seek to develop technologies that can either enable or be enabled by low-cost access to space and thus can arguably be considered part of NewSpace. [Examples include] Altius Space Machines ... Masten Space Systems ... Innovative Space Propulsion Systems ... Celestial Circuits [and] Final Frontier Design. ... NewSpace ... is a way of doing business and NewSpace is an industry doing business in a new way. ... NewSpace is an industry that’s doing business for a purpose ... a NewSpace company is a company that is built, formed, operated by, funded by, or has as part of its business plan the opening of the space frontier, and making a profit while doing so ... It is the industrial engine that will power the movement towards a more fundamental goal of space settlement..
  2. News: Wall. Mike. Satellite Grappler Snags Top Space Business Prize. 12 Jun 2012. Business News Daily. 4 Aug 2011. 30 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120730015812/http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/1297-altius-satellite-grapple-newspace-business-competition.html. dead.
  3. Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities Space Act Agreement SAA-QA-14-18882. December 18, 2014. NASA. May 15, 2023.
  4. http://www.space.com/8782-private-spacesuit-unveiled-york-flair.html Article in space.com about releasing in July 2010 Prime Suit of FFD
  5. Web site: Ted Southern eyebeam.org. eyebeam.org. 2016-01-28.
  6. News: Mosher. Dave . Inside Brooklyn's DIY Spacesuit Startup . 2012-07-13 . Wired . 2012-07-09 .
  7. News: Discount spacesuits: This Brooklyn startup wants to outfit you for moon walking at a fraction of NASA’s cost. Meg Teckman-Fullard. July 29, 2018. cnbc.com. May 15, 2023.
  8. News: Rosenberg. Eli . Brooklyn spacesuit designers have high hopes . 2012-07-09 . The Brooklyn Paper . 2012-07-06 .
  9. Web site: Startup's $10,000 Spacesuit Looks for Crowdfunding. 19 June 2012.
  10. News: Next-level spacesuits, brought to you by a Victoria's Secret designer and Russian engineer . The Washington Post . Gregory . Thomas . 2012-07-20.

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