Alongside incorporating innovative materials and technologies into the boots, engineers are also turning their attention to the prints that will mark the surface of the Moon for millenia to come. The soles of these lunar shoes will not only need to give adequate grip on the surface of the Moon, but they will be as iconic and instantly recognisable as those left by the first moonwalkers.
"There's definitely some functional characteristics that have to be built into it," says Zach Fester, a space suit engineer at the Nasa Johnson Space Center who has been leading the research and development on the new moonboot. "Traction is absolutely important – you're exposing the boot sole to a variety of surface features, so it needs good grip on harder rock and the fluffy regolith but also on harder metal surface such as vehicles, ladders and rovers. The tread also has to be robust against wear and tear. But aesthetics are certainly part of it too, because those pictures [of the footprints] are pretty iconic."
