Astronauts may soon return to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Scientists suggest that they will need a new design for the boots that are part of the spacesuit. And they’ve already started to develop it.

Is it hard to walk on the Moon
American astronauts are expected to return to the Moon in a few years as part of the Artemis program. And it seems only at first glance that they will do the same things as 60 years ago, and therefore all the solutions for this are already in place.
Actually, even a task as simple as walking on the surface of our moon may well require new solutions. Of course, astronauts in spacesuits will be doing it. However, their lower part should still be a sturdy boot to keep the foot safe when in contact with the regolith.
And if the ability to mechanically protect the foot is more or less clear, but the fact that at the moment of contact with the rock is heat exchange can be forgotten. At the same time in the equatorial zones of our moon, where Apollo astronauts landed, the temperature is -9°C. However, at the poles where Artemis missions are planned to land, it can be much colder.
What kind of footwear does an astronaut need?
All the above-mentioned were drawn to the attention of scientists from the University of North Dakota. They are doing research on how people walk, so they identified possible problems. In the boots that are part of the lunar spacesuit, the foot is protected from the cold by a rigid thermoplate.
In order for it to withstand the greater cold at the lunar pole, it would have to be made thicker, and this would result in greatly limiting the flexibility of the foot, especially the joints of the big toe. They are responsible for the elasticity of the contact during movement.
The significance of all this is an interesting question. On Earth, such a situation would definitely lead to injuries when trying to jump. And simply walking around in these boots for long periods of time can end up with serious foot health problems. However, on the Moon with its low gravity, this may not be as critical.
The fact is that the biomechanics of walking on the Moon occurs in leaps rather than steps. Perhaps this creates additional demands on the elasticity of the foot, perhaps the opposite. Therefore, the researchers suggest that this issue should be scrutinized while the development of new spacesuits is underway.
According to phys.org