Prada and Axiom Space Unveil the Next-Gen Cooling Garment for Artemis Astronauts

While Prada’s earlier role on the AxEMU spacesuit involved the outer layer’s design and material selection, its contribution to the LCVG goes deeper into functional engineering . The company applied industrial design techniques rarely associated with spaceflight hardware:

• Engineered Knitting and 3D Modeling. Prada used computational knitting and 3D body modeling to create a garment that maintains cooling performance across varied astronaut body types while improving overall comfort during spacewalks that can last up to eight hours .
• High-Performance Material Sourcing. Leveraging its supply chain expertise with advanced fibers, Prada helped select materials that can withstand repeated wear across long-duration lunar surface missions .
• Patternmaking and Product Development. The patternmaking skills used to prototype luxury collections were adapted to solve practical problems such as tube routing, seam placement, and minimizing friction points .

Dr. Jonathan Cirtain, CEO of Axiom Space, described the partnership as creating a garment “that neither company could have created independently” . The collaboration demonstrates how expertise from adjacent industries can accelerate spaceflight innovation.

Full Cooling Redundancy: The Main Safety Upgrade

The most significant improvement over older cooling garments is the introduction of a fully redundant cooling circuit .

Legacy LCVGs used on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station generally relied on a single water loop for cooling. If that loop became kinked, clogged, or otherwise failed during a spacewalk, the astronaut lost active temperature control immediately. In low Earth orbit, where spacewalks can be terminated relatively quickly, this was an accepted risk.

On the Moon, a cooling failure is far more dangerous. Lunar South Pole surface temperatures swing from roughly 127°C in direct sunlight to -173°C in permanently shadowed areas. An astronaut without active cooling could face thermal stress with no rapid return to a pressurized habitat. The new LCVG mitigates this by including a backup cooling loop that activates if the primary circuit fails .

This redundancy, combined with the AxEMU suit’s broader diagnostic systems, represents a safety philosophy shift toward protecting astronauts during longer, more autonomous surface operations .

Fit, Comfort, and Modern Manufacturing

Beyond redundancy, the LCVG benefits from technologies that did not exist when legacy suits were designed. Advanced 3D body scanning and custom knit textile structures allow the garment to fit more precisely across different body shapes while distributing cooling more evenly.

Improved fit is not just a comfort issue. Gaps or overly tight sections in a cooling garment can create hot spots that reduce metabolic heat removal efficiency. The new manufacturing approach reduces this risk through precise modeling before a single tube is placed .

The materials are also engineered for repeated use across a mission campaign. Where earlier garments might show wear after a handful of uses, the LCVG is designed for the maintenance and turnaround demands of sustained lunar surface activity .