NASA's Artemis Mission To Moon Unveils New Spacesuit Designed By Prada (spacenews.com) 23
For the first time in 50 years, humans will walk on the moon again. Currently planned for as soon as 2026, the Artemis III mission "will be one of the most complex undertakings of engineering and human ingenuity in the history of deep space exploration..." writes NASA. "Two crew members will descend to the surface and spend approximately a week near the South Pole of the Moon conducting new science before returning to lunar orbit..."
And they'll be wearing Prada, according to a Space News report from Milan: At a briefing at the International Astronautical Congress here October 16, Axiom and Prada revealed details about the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) suit that Axiom is creating for use by NASA on lunar landing missions starting with Artemis 3... Axiom emphasized the advanced capabilities in the suit, particularly when compared to the suits worn by the Apollo astronauts on moonwalks more than a half-century ago [including greater redundancy and healthy monitoring systems not available in Apollo-era suits]...
The unveiling came just over a year after Axiom announced it was working with luxury goods company Prada, an unconventional partnership intended to leverage Prada's expertise in materials and design... [Axiom's executive VP of extravehicular activity Russell Ralston] said Axiom has leveraged Prada's expertise in fabrics and garment design in helping create the outer layer of the suit, which reflects sunlight and keeps dust from getting into interior layers... "If you look across all the different technologies that are needed within the suit, the uniqueness of those technologies and their application, the supply chain has tended to be pretty unstable," he said. "So, one of the things that Prada has really helped us with is bringing stability to that base, especially on the fabric side...."
Not surprisingly, Prada also contributed to the appearance of the suit. "One of the things that was important to us was the appeal of the suit, the look of the suit," Ralston said. "Something that Prada brought to the table was helping with the general aesthetic of the suit." One design aspect that brought the two companies together was a prominent red stripe on the suit. Ralston noted that was a nod to a NASA tradition where the mission commander's suit would have that red stripe to distinguish them from another spacewalker...
While the current focus of the suit is for walking on the moon, Ralston said the suit can be easily adapted for applications in low Earth orbit, such as spacewalks from the International Space Station or Axiom's future commercial space station.
The article adds that 30 people worked on the suit (full- or part-time). "These suits will give the astronauts increased range of motion and flexibility to explore more of the landscape than on previous lunar missions," according to NASA.
With "the ability to send high quality images and video to the ground with advanced communication technology, they will be sharing a unique new human experience with the world."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.
And they'll be wearing Prada, according to a Space News report from Milan: At a briefing at the International Astronautical Congress here October 16, Axiom and Prada revealed details about the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) suit that Axiom is creating for use by NASA on lunar landing missions starting with Artemis 3... Axiom emphasized the advanced capabilities in the suit, particularly when compared to the suits worn by the Apollo astronauts on moonwalks more than a half-century ago [including greater redundancy and healthy monitoring systems not available in Apollo-era suits]...
The unveiling came just over a year after Axiom announced it was working with luxury goods company Prada, an unconventional partnership intended to leverage Prada's expertise in materials and design... [Axiom's executive VP of extravehicular activity Russell Ralston] said Axiom has leveraged Prada's expertise in fabrics and garment design in helping create the outer layer of the suit, which reflects sunlight and keeps dust from getting into interior layers... "If you look across all the different technologies that are needed within the suit, the uniqueness of those technologies and their application, the supply chain has tended to be pretty unstable," he said. "So, one of the things that Prada has really helped us with is bringing stability to that base, especially on the fabric side...."
Not surprisingly, Prada also contributed to the appearance of the suit. "One of the things that was important to us was the appeal of the suit, the look of the suit," Ralston said. "Something that Prada brought to the table was helping with the general aesthetic of the suit." One design aspect that brought the two companies together was a prominent red stripe on the suit. Ralston noted that was a nod to a NASA tradition where the mission commander's suit would have that red stripe to distinguish them from another spacewalker...
While the current focus of the suit is for walking on the moon, Ralston said the suit can be easily adapted for applications in low Earth orbit, such as spacewalks from the International Space Station or Axiom's future commercial space station.
The article adds that 30 people worked on the suit (full- or part-time). "These suits will give the astronauts increased range of motion and flexibility to explore more of the landscape than on previous lunar missions," according to NASA.
With "the ability to send high quality images and video to the ground with advanced communication technology, they will be sharing a unique new human experience with the world."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.
Brand recognition (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
It certainly seems unlikely that Prada has any experience with fabrics in vacuum, hard UV, holding in an atmosphere, and withstanding and insulating against temperatures well outside the human body's tolerance range, all while remaining flexible and puncture-resistant.
There's a LOT more than pretty fabrics involved.
Re: (Score:2)
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I think the primary criteria here is likely to be experience with joining different fabrics and other materials together securely, which pretty much any upmarket fashion house almost certainly has because their stuff generally lasts a lifetime if you treat it right, fast fashion... not so much. Everything else, including specifications on the materials to be sewn together and w
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yeah... reading a couple of the linked articles there really wasn't much convincing info about what Prada brought to the table. Some vague statements about supply chain expertise and layering of fabrics. I suspect that some extreme outdoor gear companies would've had considerably more relevant experience and expertise on performance fabrics and design for light weight and athleticism...
I'm pretty skeptical that they were really one of the better options for a partner. maybe one of the things was that they
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It certainly seems unlikely that Prada has any experience with fabrics in vacuum, hard UV, holding in an atmosphere, and withstanding and insulating against temperatures well outside the human body's tolerance range, all while remaining flexible and puncture-resistant.
I don't know... The Devil wore Prada.
Have you met my ex-wife?
The Moon Nazis are coming! (Score:2)
This headline reads like something from Iron Sky.
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It's Prada and yet (Score:2)
It'll probably be the cheapest item in this entire boondoggle of a space program.
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Boondoggle: hmmm, maybe. I'm undecided on the current space program. I think it's gotten a lot better since the days of the space shuttle which was a piece of shit design and a piece of shit engineering/build. They have had some really great successes with the Mars rovers, putting the new telescope up flawlessly, and somehow managing to keep the voyager craft alive and communicating. Yet, plenty of other things they spend money on are pure bullshit and piss me off.
This return to the moon stuff could go
Re:It's Prada and yet (Score:4, Informative)
The problem is Boeing and other contractors became run by crooks with MBAs (non-engineer management/finance type goons). For example, in the late 70s Daniel J Haughton was the CEO and then in the 80s Robert Haack ran Lockheed. And in Boeing's case it was Malcolm T. Stamper, a sales guy who became CEO in 1972 (after the 747, their last non-incrementally innovative airplane, was in service). And then in the 80s it was Frank A. Shrontz .. a lawyer. None of those people gave a shit about engineering, science, they certainly weren't into building visionary shit. It was all about "how do we get the biggest defense contracts for the least output". They didn't want to take any risk, they didn't want to make fully re-usable rockets, they didn't truly give a shit about returning to the moon (unless they could calculate a huge pay day from it).
The Astronaut Wears Prada (Score:2)
Wow (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's not even as ugly as they could have made if it had not to also be functional.
I find that branded items from the most expensive brands are commonly "ugly", it's kind of an artistic statement for them, and part of letting the customer being recognized from far as member of the select club. It's very obvious with branded spectacles. The more expensive, the thicker and weirder the frames.
"experts in fabric" (Score:2)
Design cache? (Score:2)
Red Stripe (Score:1)
"a nod to a NASA tradition where the mission commander's suit would have that red stripe to distinguish them from another spacewalker"
I thought the red stripe was for the expendable crewmember...
Odd (Score:2)
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
- David Bowie