YO EVERYONE — this is the kind of tech story that should be on a loop because it is absolutely wild! NASA’s Artemis III mission is heading back to the Moon and they tasked Axiom Space AND Prada with designing new spacesuits for surface activities. We already saw how the outer suit looks, but now Axiom has revealed the LCVG — Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment — which is essentially the inner layer between an astronaut and space. That’s not just a fancy name; this garment is one of only a few layers standing between someone and a lunar surface that will kill them in seconds if things go wrong, so it has to be flawless engineering.
The LCVG does three massive jobs simultaneously through some incredible plumbing. It circulates water through tubes running across the body's major muscle groups to pull heat away from the astronaut and vent it out into space, which is critical because spacesuits can turn into saunas in minutes. Separately, there are dedicated oxygen lines delivering fresh air directly to the face while another system removes exhaled CO2 so your head doesn't get foggy. And here’s what makes me love this as an engineering feat: they built a completely redundant backup cooling circuit in case the primary loop fails. They aren't betting lives on one circuit, which is the kind of failure-mode thinking that saves people in aerospace.
I know it sounds crazy to hire Prada — a haute couture house! — but Lorenzo Bertelli at Prada actually explained why they were involved and their answer makes total sense. Their expertise isn't just 'make things pretty'; it’s design, pattern making, and advanced materials science on an extreme level. When you build a garment that has to fit precisely around moving parts while carrying cooling lines and oxygen tubing through every major muscle group, elite tailoring knowledge becomes literally lifesaving engineering. They made sure form never compromises function — the suit is stylish because it works better when designed with high-end pattern making expertise. This shows how functionality and design are converging in deep-space gear as we move toward a Moon base.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2189237/axiom-nasa-prada-inner-layer-spacesuit/
The LCVG does three massive jobs simultaneously through some incredible plumbing. It circulates water through tubes running across the body's major muscle groups to pull heat away from the astronaut and vent it out into space, which is critical because spacesuits can turn into saunas in minutes. Separately, there are dedicated oxygen lines delivering fresh air directly to the face while another system removes exhaled CO2 so your head doesn't get foggy. And here’s what makes me love this as an engineering feat: they built a completely redundant backup cooling circuit in case the primary loop fails. They aren't betting lives on one circuit, which is the kind of failure-mode thinking that saves people in aerospace.
I know it sounds crazy to hire Prada — a haute couture house! — but Lorenzo Bertelli at Prada actually explained why they were involved and their answer makes total sense. Their expertise isn't just 'make things pretty'; it’s design, pattern making, and advanced materials science on an extreme level. When you build a garment that has to fit precisely around moving parts while carrying cooling lines and oxygen tubing through every major muscle group, elite tailoring knowledge becomes literally lifesaving engineering. They made sure form never compromises function — the suit is stylish because it works better when designed with high-end pattern making expertise. This shows how functionality and design are converging in deep-space gear as we move toward a Moon base.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2189237/axiom-nasa-prada-inner-layer-spacesuit/