In 2024, Axiom Space and Prada presented the final version of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit or AxEMUthe space suit that the astronauts of Artemis on the Moon, but that’s not all they’ll wear on their moonwalks. The missing piece is thermal underwear LCVGacronym for Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment o Liquid cooling and ventilation garment, which was unveiled this Sunday in New York.
‘It is not common for astrophysics and aeronautics to develop things that are aesthetically pleasing,’ he said. Jonathan CirtainCEO and president of Axiom Space, during the event. But, he added, ‘although aesthetically pleasing, this is a safety suit… it is a truly remarkable piece of technology’.
The LCVG is not a simple undergarment, but a base layer designed to keep astronauts’ temperatures stable while working inside the AxEMU. To achieve this, it incorporates channels through which small tubes with cooling liquid run, which will circulate around the body to remove excess heat. It is an evolution compared to previous designs, in which these tubes were intertwined into a mesh, a more laborious process to manufacture and integrate.
Ventilation is also part of the system, with larger black tubes that carry air first to the face area and then around the body. This circuit makes it possible to manage the carbon dioxide that astronauts exhale and return oxygen to them when they inhale, a critical function during extravehicular activities on the Moon.
The garment is designed for future astronauts who walk on the lunar surface, although it could be tested in orbit first. Cirtain pointed out that one of the options is test it with astronauts aboard the International Space Station and even carry out some tests during Artemis IIIalthough that mission would not use the garment on a moonwalk.
This new inner layer and modified versions of the AxEMU suit have already passed various tests in temperature, gravity and other environments. In addition to possible tests on the ISS, Axiom also plans to test the system on the NASA Neutral Buoyancy Laboratorythe huge pool where astronauts train to simulate some of the conditions they will encounter during a spacewalk.
The set formed by the AxEMU and the LCVG represents an important leap compared to the suits Apollowhich allowed NASA astronauts to walk on the Moon. More than five decades have passed since the last lunar mission in 1972, but the challenge is not only to update old technology. Artemis missions will carry astronauts to the lunar south pole, a region more demanding than the areas explored during the Apollo program and with much more extreme thermal conditions.
Axiom and Prada also seek that the suit fits better to each astronaut and is easier to customize. The idea is to combine Prada’s manufacturing experience with a modular design, so that some pieces can adapt to different sizes or replaced separately without having to remake the entire suit. For a new era of spaceflight with more crews and more frequent missions, that flexibility may be as important as thermal protection itself.
Although Prada’s participation in a space suit may seem striking, the collaboration It is not limited to the exterior appearance. Cirtain explained that the Italian firm’s experience in materials allowed it to contribute ‘the ballistic material on the outside of the suit’. According to the person in charge of Axiom, this material helps the suit ‘maintain its integrity and do not tear in that particular environment’.
The relationship between fashion and space exploration is not completely new either. When NASA looked for contractors for the Apollo suits, it ended up working with ILC Dovera company Delaware linked to Playtexthe well-known bra manufacturer. Its specialists in sewing and materials such as nylon helped create a suit that protected the astronauts, but also allowed them to move, while Hamilton Standardtoday Collins Aerospaceprovided life support systems.