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Italian luxury fashion brand Prada in collaboration with US startup company Axiom Space has unveiled the design of a spacesuit that will be used for NASA's Artemis Moon exploration program.
The collaboration aims to produce new spacesuits for the Artemis III lunar mission, the first crewed Moon landing since December 1972, when the Apollo 17 mission concluded, the fashion house said in a joint statement on Wednesday. NASA's Artemis III mission to the moon, has been planned for 2026. The new spacesuit, officially known as the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) was unveiled during the International Astronautical Congress in Milan. Starting on October 18, the spacesuit will be presented to the public with an installation at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II as an extension of the IAC event in the Milan. Prada said using its expertise in raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design, its engineers worked side by side with the Axiom Space team to create a suit capable of protecting astronauts from the harsh environment of space, and enabling, for the first time, human exploration of the lunar south pole. Photographs released by the fashion house shows the white coloured suit with red and grey stripes. The unisex suits that can be adapted for different sizes reflecting similar characteristics to other Prada creations, including Italy's Luna Rossa America's Cup boat. "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," said 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," he added. During development, Axiom Space used a dark cover layer for display purposes only to conceal the suit's proprietary technology. However, the spacesuit worn on the lunar surface will be made from a white material that reflects heat and protects astronauts from extreme high temperatures and lunar dust. Astronauts will be able to perform spacewalks for at least eight hours. Advancing NASA's Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit design, the AxEMU provides increased flexibility, performance, and safety, as well as specialized tools to aid in exploring the lunar south pole, the company said. Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility said, "Going beyond our limits is one of the company's values that perfectly reflects the spirit of the Prada brand and my parents' vision. I'm very proud of the result we're showing today, which is just the first step in a long-term collaboration with Axiom Space. "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," the Prada official said. Axiom Space said it has iteratively improved this next-gen spacesuit over the past two years to support the Artemis III mission. The AxEMU has undergone extensive testing and simulations with a wide range of astronauts and engineers at state-of-the-art Axiom Space, SpaceX and NASA facilities. Testing was conducted underwater to simulate the lunar environment with an unoccupied spacesuit at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and reduced gravity simulations at NASA's Johnson Space Centre. Through Artemis, NASA and its partners are set to land on the surface of the Moon and Prada's collaboration aims to outfit the first woman and the first person of colour to land on the moon during the upcoming Artemis III mission in September 2026. Incidentally, Axiom Space is the architect of the world's first commercial space station. The Artemis III astronauts will travel to lunar orbit, where two crew members will descend to the surface and spend approximately a week near the South Pole of the Moon conducting new science before returning to lunar orbit to join their crew for the journey back to Earth. Meanwhile, French fashion house Pierre Cardin had in September this year unveiled an astronaut training suit for the European Space Agency's centre in Cologne. (ANI)
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