It might not seem the obvious choice to turn to Prada to help design spacesuits, but that’s exactly what Axiom Space have done.
The Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) will be worn by moonwalkers during NASA’s upcoming Artemis III mission, which aims to return humans, including the first woman to the Moon.
The company revealed the suit at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy on 16 October 2024.
“Our elite teams have redefined spacesuit development, establishing new pathways to innovative solutions and applying a state-of-the-art design approach for the AxEMU,” says Matt Ondler, Axiom Space President.
“We have broken the mould. The Axiom Space-Prada partnership has set a new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding what’s possible in commercial space.”
Why did Axiom ask Prada to make a spacesuit?
Crafting a spacesuit is an extremely difficult task.
They are made from dozens of layers of delicate material, which expert stitchers need to sew together incredibly precisely, as a stitch being a fraction too long could result in the air tight seals not functioning correctly.
If any panel within the assembly is put together incorrectly, then it can’t simply be unstitched and redone as the needle holes would be left within in fabric – the entire section would need to be recut, resewn and replaced.
As a high-end fashion brand, Prada’s stitchers are well used to working under these exacting standards, as well as being well versed in all the latest technologies and innovative sewing methods.
By working with Prada to produce the spacesuits, Axiom has bridged the gap between the demanding engineering requirements of working in space and the practicalities of assembling a sewn garment.
“Going beyond our limits is one of the company’s values that perfectly reflects the spirit of the Prada brand and my parents’ vision,” says Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, and son of Prada founder Miuccia Prada.
“We’ve shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features, and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot. I’m sure we’ll continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons, and build new scenarios together.”
Why did Axiom redesign the suit?
Axiom was commissioned to create the spacesuits which will be used by the first moonwalkers in over 50 years by NASA in 2022 deal valued at $228 million.
These were meant to be a vast improvement on not just the Apollo spacesuits, but those currently used by NASA.
As a new generation suit, the AxEMU is an advancement of NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), which the agency have been using to conduct spacewalks on the International Space Station since 1998.
The 26-year-old spacesuit design has long been a source of frustration for astronauts.
The xEMU is bulky, difficult to manoeuvre and uncomfortable – several astronauts have even lost fingernails due to the suit’s ill-fitting gloves.
One of the biggest criticisms stems from the fact the xEMU were designed predominantly for the male body, meaning the increasing number of female astronauts conducting spacewalks often struggle with fit issues.
How is the spacesuit from Axiom and Prada better than previous versions?
The AxEMU, meanwhile, has been designed for a wide range of body types, regardless of gender, while also being much more flexible and offering increased performance.
With the help of Prada the spacesuits have been tailored by Axiom to withstand the conditions at the lunar south pole, where the Artemis landing missions are headed.
The mission’s aim to explore the permanently shadowed regions found in craters around the pole, and the suit can withstand the extreme cold found in these environments for at least two hours, with a total spacewalk time of eight hours.
The suits contain multiple redundant systems and diagnostic tools to keen astronauts safe while traversing one of the most hostile environments possible, while the helmet visor has a special coating to increase visibility.
Notably, the gloves have undergone a complete redesign, using advanced techniques to help prevent astronauts from losing anymore fingernails.
The suit also contains an array of avionics, life support and other systems needed to support human life, mostly contained within the suit’s large backpack.
The suit has gone through extended testing at fa Axiom Space, NASA and Space X, to ensure the suit is ready to be put to use on the Artemis III mission.
It will continue to be tested, including crewed underwater tests at the Neutral Buoyancy Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre, and alongside the Artemis Lunar Terrain Vehicle, which will enter its critical design review phase in 2025.
