From Red Moon to space : the famous Prada brand will collaborate with Axiom Space, leader in the space sector and creator of the first commercial orbital station, for the new NASA suits intended for the Artemis III lunar mission.
The mission, scheduled for 2025, will be the first crewed Moon landing since Apollo 17 , which dates back to December 1972, but it will also be the first to put a woman on the satellite.
NASA has entrusted the production of the suits to the company as part of a $228.5 million contract awarded in September 2022. Prada will assist Axiom mainly for the outer layer of the space suit, which will have to protect the internal parts without hindering the mobility.
«The technological reasons that push us to collaborate with a company like Prada are not obvious - comments Michael Suffre dyn i , CEO of Axiom Space - but it's more than just a fashion company: they actually make quite a few technologically advanced things ."
Suffredini said he was interested in exploiting Prada's experience in composite materials: by using these materials for the torso and trouser parts of the tracksuit, in fact, it could be made much lighter, an improvement that would be very advantageous.
Axiom's collaboration with Prada could also expand to other projects, such as those involving the commercial space station, but at the moment all attention is focused on the suits, which are an evolution of NASA's Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) model , designed to ensure greater flexibility and protection in a hostile environment, as well as being equipped with specialized tools for exploration and scientific activities.
Their final appearance is still a mystery, as the companies have only released a few details so far.
«For the design of the external layer we will focus on functionality - explains Lorenzo Bertelli, marketing director of the Prada group - but I think there will also be some space for creativity».
Throughout the entire design process, the Prada and Axiom Space teams will work side by side to develop innovative solutions that can both provide protection and respond to the challenges of a unique environment such as the lunar one.
«Prada's know-how in raw materials, production techniques and design - Suffredini continues - will allow us to apply advanced technologies to guarantee the comfort of astronauts on the lunar surface, also taking into consideration those human factors that are as necessary as they still are today. absent in traditional spacesuits."
(Unioneonline/vl)