NASA's Artemis Mission To Moon Unveils New Spacesuit Designed By Prada (spacenews.com) 51
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:1)
For one: They bypassed all the US brands. Why? Will they now have an Italian flag on their arms?
For another: The project is over budget and behind schedule. This seems like salt on a wound to the taxpayer.
Also, paying a lot for? NASA paid Axiom Space AND Prada $228m for the suits. Surely without trying to look stylish, they could have saved money by focusing on utility. Was there any compromise to that for the sake of being fashion forward?
There is also the issue of Prada having con
Re: (Score:1)
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:3)
Re:Brand recognition (Score:4, Insightful)
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 what tolerances are needed can be provided by NASA, and the various parts and whole thoroughly tested in the various facilities NASA has. That doesn't mean this isn't another $10,000 hammer, but if all goes to plan the photos of whoever gets to wear these suits are going to go in the history books, so I can see why someone might think they ought to look the part. It's also quite likely a far smaller slice of pork than what some of the usual NASA contractors on the list are going to get of the whole vastly over-funded boondoggle.
Re: (Score:2)
There's a dude called Derek Guy who posts about this stuff on Twitter, and it was a bit of an eye-opener for me. It's actually quite a complex design process to avoid things like clothes bunching up in places, or having enough slack to provide coverage when you bend or sit but not look oversize when standing.
I'm sure Prada do bring a lot to the table in that respect, although maybe NASA could have saved some money and just hired Derek Guy instead.
Re:Brand recognition (Score:4, Interesting)
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 have a lot of spare design capacity and money so could put people on the project quickly
Re: (Score:2)
I suspect that some extreme outdoor gear companies would've had considerably more relevant experience and expertise
Or how about the company they partnered with, which is working on the first commercial space station.
https://www.axiomspace.com/axi... [axiomspace.com]
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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?
Partnered with a company called Axiom Space (Score:2)
"Building off NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit design, the Axiom Space spacesuits are created to provide increased flexibility, greater protection to withstand the harsh environment, and specialized tools to accomplish exploration needs and expand scientific opportunities. Using innovative technologies and a flexible design, these spacesuits will enable more exploration of the lunar surface than ever before."
https [axiomspace.com]
Well the Space Nazis will be wearing Hugo Boss (Score:2)
They are just paying a lot for the brand recognition, that way they can sell a lot to the NASA fan base.
Not at all. They need to impress the Space Nazis, who have been hiding on the moon for 80 years, that are wearing Hugo Boss.
Re: (Score:2)
They should have gone with Calvin Klein or Hugo Boss or Uniqlo.
At least Uniqlo has a reputation for designing clothes, and do a decent job.
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It has the space knickers contract. Prada has the techno trousers contract. Playtex retains the space bra contract as always.
Bras in space? Surely you jest. I won't take you seriously unless you cross your heart. (Too old a reference? I'll show myself out.)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
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:5, 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).
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Yup, that was definitely a bad era for space science in general. But I have hope recently and willing to change my mind if NASA continues to be successful. Broken organizations can be turned around. It happens. But they definitely earned the cynicism of their critics from previous decades.
This applies to NASA, Boeing and any of the zillion other contractors and subs involved.
The moon landing coming up -could- be very cool and remains to be seen what they make of it.
I think there's another thing going on
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I've been pondering organizational incompetence, especially given one of the professed benefits of corporations/bureaucracy is less stupidity and incompetence overall as decisions are scrutinized more heavily through several steps, to bulwarks protecting the incompetent (or at least that I've witnessed, protecting brass as underlings are thrown under the bus).
If your organization relies on the great man approach to function well, you've already discredited the logic of having large organizations in the firs
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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.
The SLS which Artemis will use was "designed" to reuse shuttle components (SRBs and main engines) and is projected to cost $2.5B per launch. The program thus far has cost > $26B ($32B adjusted for inflation).
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Oh, shit. You just popped my happy bubble. Re-adjusting my hopes towards the more cynical side.
The Astronaut Wears Prada (Score:2)
Its about the incremental cost (Score:3)
Don't count on it being the cheapest. In the Apollo program the suits cost 15-22 million each, which accounting for inflation is like $150 million.
That's for low production runs. The price will come down with numbers. The first F-35 was $1 billion, the one thousandth was $100 million.
Sunk costs are gone and cannot be recovered. All that matters for going forward is the incremental costs to make one more unit.
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
Lipstick on a pig (Score:2)
When you get the old design files from NASA, how much are you really going to change? Tesla starting from a blank slate is probably a large part why they could make something much sleeker.
Should be a lot cheaper going to moon now (Score:2)
NOT designed by Prada (Score:2)
MILAN — Axiom Space showed off the flight design of the Artemis spacesuit it is developing for NASA with the assistance of Prada.
It's very clear that Axiom Space is developing the suit and Prada is involved with only part of it.
He 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
So there you have it, Prada's involvement is limited to the outer layer.
So... (Score:1)
ugly (Score:2)
Still ugly, I had better expectations, like the sexy suits from modern Sci-Fi movies /s
In a related news... (Score:3)
On the bright side (Score:1)
On the bright side, if that suit would become fashionable to wear to office it has enough space for my tummy after a big meal, some adult diapers, maybe some exoskeleton thing to support said tummy and a full body massage system. And a hidden beer dispenser/sipper for those long meetings.
Prada (Score:2)
Spacesuit designed by Prada succinctly demonstrates all that's wrong with NASA.