Italian fashion house Prada will assist Axiom Space in the development of spacesuits for the Artemis program. They are confident that their experience of using composite materials in clothing will come in handy on the Moon.
Spacesuits for the Moon
On October 4, Axiom Space and Prada announced the beginning of cooperation in the development of a spacesuit for the Artemis program. Astronauts should start using them on the Moon from the third mission.
It was Axiom Space that commissioned the development of spacesuits for returning to the Moon. In September 2022, they were allocated USD 228.5 million as part of the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services program. The same “space uniforms” are planned to be used in the future to work on the ISS and its successors.
“While it doesn’t seem obvious what the technological reasons are for collaborating with a company like Prada,” Michael Suffredini, executive director of Axiom Space, admitted in an interview, “they’re more than just a fashion company. They actually do quite a bit of technologically advanced things.”
How can Prada help
Prada really expects to be useful in the development of a lunar spacesuit. Lorenzo Bertelli, the company’s marketing director, pointed out that back in the 1990s they founded the Luna Rossa yacht team, which competed for the America’s Cup.
Since then, the fashion house has gained considerable experience not only in making their products look stylish, but also in using soft composite materials, including in clothing. It is expected that they will use this experience to design the outer layer of spacesuits.
It is expected that Prada will be able to develop a design that will protect the astronaut from all negative environmental factors, including lunar dust, without reducing the astronaut’s mobility. In addition, the spacesuit should be very light.
According to spacenews.com
Follow us on Twitter to get the most interesting space news in time
https://twitter.com/ust_magazine
