The companies have revealed the liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG), a sophisticated inner layer designed to be worn beneath the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit during future lunar surface operations.
Serving as the suit’s primary thermal management system, the garment is engineered to protect astronauts from the extreme conditions of space while maintaining comfort and performance during lunar excursions lasting up to eight hours.
Axiom Space chief executive officer and president Dr Jonathan Cirtain said the project demonstrated the value of bringing together expertise from vastly different industries.
“The future of space exploration will not be built by any one organisation alone, and our partnership with Prada demonstrates that perfectly,” Cirtain said.
“By combining aerospace engineering expertise with luxury craftsmanship and advanced product development, we have created a garment that neither company could have developed independently. This type of cross-industry collaboration will help define the next era of human spaceflight.”
The LCVG leverages Prada’s extensive experience in advanced textile engineering, technical garment design and innovative manufacturing processes. Developed using sophisticated 3D modelling techniques, the garment integrates cooling and ventilation systems while enhancing astronaut comfort during extended lunar operations.
Prada’s expertise in high-performance materials also played a key role in identifying and sourcing specialised fibres capable of withstanding repeated use during long-duration missions.
The latest unveiling builds on the collaboration announced in 2024, when Axiom Space and Prada revealed the outer layer of the AxEMU spacesuit. That partnership helped develop an exterior capable of enduring the harsh thermal conditions and micrometeoroid hazards expected at the moon’s south polar region.
The move to jointly develop the inner cooling garment represents a natural progression of the partnership, shifting focus from external protection to the systems worn closest to the astronaut’s body.
Prada Group chief marketing officer and head of sustainability Lorenzo Bertelli said the latest achievement highlighted the strength of the ongoing collaboration.
“When we unveiled the AxEMU spacesuit, we made it clear that the partnership between Prada and Axiom Space would extend beyond that initial milestone,” Bertelli said.
“Today we are proud to present another breakthrough that combines Axiom Space’s pioneering expertise with Prada’s knowledge of design, pattern making and advanced materials as humanity prepares to return to the lunar surface.”
The cooling garment performs a critical life-support function during spacewalks. As astronauts work in demanding conditions, their bodies generate significant heat. The LCVG circulates chilled water through a network of tubes positioned around major muscle groups, absorbing excess heat before transferring it to the spacesuit’s portable life-support system, where it is expelled into space.
A key advancement over previous generations of cooling garments is the inclusion of a fully redundant cooling circuit, providing a backup system should the primary cooling loop experience a fault.
In addition to thermal regulation, the garment also plays a vital role in maintaining breathable air. A separate ventilation circuit delivers fresh oxygen across the astronaut’s face, continuously removing exhaled carbon dioxide. The gas is then processed through the life-support system’s carbon dioxide scrubber before oxygen is recirculated.
Axiom Space senior vice president of spacecraft development Russell Ralston said the garment was one of the most important systems supporting astronauts during lunar operations.
“Every minute astronauts spend outside their spacecraft, the LCVG is working to keep them safe,” Ralston said.
“It manages their thermal environment, supports their breathing and does so while they are operating at the limits of human endurance. Our work with Prada has helped elevate those capabilities beyond what we could have achieved alone.”
The AxEMU spacesuit is being developed to support NASA’s Artemis program and future lunar exploration missions, including Artemis IV. Designed to accommodate a diverse range of astronauts, the suit incorporates enhanced mobility, improved protection and advanced technologies to support scientific exploration and long-duration operations on the lunar surface.
Based on NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit architecture, the AxEMU introduces greater flexibility, improved durability and specialised tools tailored to the challenges of lunar exploration.
Axiom Space said the new generation of spacesuits would enable astronauts to travel further, conduct more scientific research and spend longer periods working on the moon than ever before.
The company believes the development represents a major milestone in advancing United States space capabilities while supporting broader efforts to expand humanity’s presence beyond Earth and deepen scientific understanding of the moon, the solar system and beyond.
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