Prada launches into spacesuit design

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Prada scion Lorenzo Bertelli was in his element alongside top executives from Axiom Space during the International Astronautical Congress in Milan on Wednesday, as the Italian fashion group and the US aerospace start-up unveiled the spacesuits that will take astronauts to the moon on Nasa’s upcoming Artemis III mission. 

The not-very-fashionable but highly engineered 200kg-plus gender-neutral white extravehicular mobility unit spacesuit comes with grey knee and elbow padding and a sizing scheme that is expected to accommodate a wide range of body shapes.

For Bertelli, a former race car driver, space is the next frontier. He cites the £1bn investment that Prada has made over two decades in research and engineering for its competitive sailing team Luna Rossa and its apparel line Linea Rossa. “We launched Luna Rossa and then decided to compete in the America’s Cup because we wanted a new challenge. Then came the Linea Rossa line because we needed to equip sailors with the best attire possible,” he explains. “It starts with a vision . . . then we figure things out.”

Prada’s latest collaboration with Axiom Space, which is in the race to build the first commercial space station, is uncharted territory for fashion houses. Though Bertelli’s mother Miuccia Prada’s latest collection is characterised by futuristic elements, the spacesuit endeavour has taken the group’s experimental nature to the next level.  

We sell bags which enable us to invest in projects like this

Bertelli believes the research and technical expertise the group is acquiring through its work for the Artemis III mission will give Prada a competitive edge once commercial trips to space become more widely available. “I know anyone can go to space today, the problem is that the price ticket is too high,” says Bertelli. “Once the sector scales up, the price will go down and there will be a huge opportunity.”

Axiom Space president Matt Ondler adds that the partnership had “set a new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding what’s possible in commercial space”. 

The red stripes on the spacesuit are an echo of the sailors’ Linea Rossa logo. They have also been a regular fixture of Nasa’s spacesuits since Apollo 13 as a way to identify the missions’ commanders in photos and videos from space.

Following the pandemic, Bertelli reached out to Axiom, which was only a few years old, and made a bid for the Nasa contract. Russell Ralston, the executive vice-president for extravehicular activity for Axiom Space, was caught by surprise but then, he says, he realised the partnership had a “high potential”. 

Prada’s expertise in high-performance materials, production and fibre blending contributed to the development of the spacesuits’ outer layer. Its design and product team also worked with Axiom’s engineers on customised features that would protect astronauts against the rough lunar environment while also enhancing movement.

Features of the inner layer include thermoregulation, an in-suit nutrition system, biometric monitoring, a regenerable CO₂ scrubbing system and a variable suit pressure device. The boots, which Ralston says were the most challenging part of the suit to develop, are engineered to withstand both extremely high and extremely low temperatures. 

As Nasa sets out to find water in the craters of the moon’s south pole, where the surface’s temperature can vary from freezing cold to several hundred degrees above zero Celsius, astronauts will be able to spacewalk for eight hours in the Axiom-Prada spacesuits.

Minor tweaks to the current design are to be expected before the mission launches — “It has already changed a lot since we unveiled the prototype two years ago,” says Ralston — but executives from both companies tout the “excellent” balance they have been able to strike between mobility, performance and endurance.

Prada’s long-term objective is to participate in the development of the space suits’ internal layer too, by leveraging its sailboat engineering expertise (competitive sailboats are specially built to be resistant but light, for example).

For now, Bertelli says he’s proud that the group “has pushed beyond its limits”. He continues: “I don’t know if this will end up being strategic for Prada. For now we sell bags which enable us to invest in projects like this, but one day when going to space will be [common], we will be able [to dress space tourists] thanks to the knowledge we are building.”

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