Private sector space outfit Axion and Italian fashion house Prada last week revealed the space suit that will be used on the Artemis III mission.
Sorry, it’s not a space suit. It’s an “Extravehicular Mobility Unit” – because it works just as well for eight-hour spacewalks or a two-hour stroll in the ultra-frigid conditions found in the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon’s South Pole. Eight-hour spacewalks are made possible by the presence of “a regenerable carbon dioxide scrubbing system and a robust cooling technology to remove heat from the system.”
Those donning the suit will also enjoy “advanced coatings on the helmet and visor to enhance the astronauts’ view of their surroundings,” while being monitored by included “life support systems, pressure garments, avionics and other innovative systems to meet exploration needs and expand scientific opportunities.”
Even the tall and small will look sharp in the suit, which has been designed to fit both males and females from the first to 99th percentile.
Prada proclaimedits team helped Axiom Space engineers with “customized material recommendations and features that would both protect astronauts against the unique challenges of the lunar environment and visually inspire future space exploration.”
The fashion house also used “advanced technologies and innovative sewing methods to bridge the gap between highly engineered functionality and an aesthetically appealing white outer layer, providing astronauts with an increased level of comfort while improving the materials’ performance.”
Here’s the suit in a close-up.
Dahling! I love your AxEMU suit. Image courtesy of Prada/Axiom Space – Click to enlarge
And here it is being modelled.
Mock-up of the AxEMU suit. Image courtesy of Prada/Axiom Space – Click to enlarge
The Register thinks the touch of red is very on-trend.
The Artemis III mission is NASA’s planned return to the Moon. The space agency currently predicts it will launch “No earlier than September 2026” and see two crew members spend around a week on Luna.
Before that can happen, Artemis II – a test mission – has to go off without a hitch.
But, as Mike Bloomberg last week wrote in a column carried by the masthead he founded, the Artemis program “has so far spent nearly $100 billion without anyone getting off the ground.”
Bloomberg, the man, rated the Artemis program “a colossal waste of taxpayer money.”
“The problems start with the mission, which is more political than scientific,” he wrote. “There is little humans can do on the Moon that robots cannot. Technology has come a long way since 1969, to put it mildly. We do not need another person on the Moon to collect rocks or take scientific measurements. And the costs of putting people on the Moon – and of planning for their potential rescue, should complications arise – are truly astronomical.”
He also pointed out that the spacesuits mentioned above will cost $1 billion.
Bloomberg wants the US’s next president to re-think the program – especially given fellow billionaire Elon Musk’s Starship may soon out-perform the hardware created for Artemis. ®
