The Moon wears Prada: Axiom Space, leader in the space sector and creator of the first commercial orbital station, today announced the innovative collaboration with the Prada brand for the new NASA suits intended for the Artemis III lunar mission. The mission, scheduled for 2025, will be the first manned Moon landing since Apollo 17, which dates back to December 1972, but it will also be the first to put a woman on this satellite. Throughout the entire design process, the Prada and Axiom Space teams will work side by side to develop innovative solutions in terms of materials and design capable of both providing protection and responding to the challenges of a unique environment such as the lunar one. “Prada’s know-how in raw materials, production techniques and design,” said Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space, “will allow us to apply advanced technologies to ensure the comfort of astronauts on the lunar surface, also taking into account those human factors that are both necessary and still absent in traditional spacesuits”.
An unusual collaboration
The Italian fashion house was chosen by Axiom Space for an unusual collaboration in the context of NASA’s Artemis missions, which entrusted the creation of the suits to the private American company as part of a 228.5 million dollar contract awarded in September 2022. Prada will assist Axiom especially for the outer layer of the space suit, which will have to protect the internal parts without hindering mobility.
“Celebration of creativity and innovation”
“From Prada’s constant avant-garde vision has arisen an unprecedented desire for adventure towards new horizons: space”, declared Lorenzo Bertelli, Marketing Director of the Prada Group. “It is an honor for us to be part of this mission with Axiom Space. The space suit for the Artemis era will bring together decades of experimentation, study of cutting-edge technologies and know-how in the field of design gathered since the 1990s, when Luna Rossa participated in the America’s Cup. It is a celebration of creativity and innovation in the progress of civilization.”
“Ensure flexibility and protection”
The AxEMU suit – explains a note from Prada – will provide astronauts with even more advanced potential to explore space, while offering NASA the possibility of exploiting commercially developed systems that human beings need to access, live and work on and around the Moon. The suits are an evolution of NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) model and are designed to ensure greater flexibility and protection in a hostile environment, as well as being equipped with specialized tools for exploration and scientific activities.
Source-tg24.sky.it