Axiom Space and Prada unveiled the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) designed to be worn by astronauts inside the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit. Engineered as the high-performance inner layer of the AxEMU, the LCVG is built to protect astronauts from the elements when they explore the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years.
“The future of space exploration will not be built by any one entity alone, and our partnership with Prada is proof of that,” said Dr. Jonathan Cirtain, Axiom Space CEO and President. “By bringing together the best in both aerospace engineering as well as luxury craftmanship and advanced product development, we have developed a garment that neither company could have created independently, and that is exactly the kind of cross-industry thinking that will define the next era of human spaceflight.”
The LCVG collaboration draws on Prada's expertise in engineered knitting and innovative design concepts, resulting in a next-generation garment developed through advanced 3D modeling techniques that maintain cooling and ventilation while enhancing comfort during up to eight-hour spacewalks. Prada's firmly established knowledge of high-performance materials has also supported the identification and sourcing of specialized fibers that allow the garment to be worn repeatedly across long-duration missions. In 2024, Axiom Space and Prada unveiled the AxEMU's outer layer, where Prada's design and product development helped deliver a suit exterior built to withstand the thermal extremes and micrometeoroid environment of the lunar South Pole. Deepening the partnership to take on the LCVG was the logical progression: moving from the suit's outermost protective shell to the layer worn closest to the astronaut's body, where thermal regulation, comfort and reliability are critical.
“When we unveiled the AxEMU, we announced that the collaboration between Prada and Axiom Space would continue beyond that first milestone. Today, we are proud to present a new achievement born from the unique combination of Axiom Space’s pioneering expertise and Prada’s know-how in design, patternmaking, and advanced materials, ahead of humanity’s return to the lunar surface,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sustainability. “We look forward to continuing this collaboration with Axiom Space, pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers together.”
As crew members perform spacewalks, their bodies generate significant metabolic heat. The LCVG circulates cold water through a network of tubes routed across the body's major muscle groups, absorbing and carrying the heat away to the suit's portable life-support system, where it will then be expelled into space. Unlike legacy cooling garments, the Axiom Space LCVG features a fully redundant cooling circuit, ensuring a backup system is available if the primary loop fails. When astronauts return to the Moon during NASA’s Artemis IV mission, the LCVG will be one of the few layers standing between them and the unforgiving environment of space. The garment also serves a ventilation function, with a separate loop of tubes delivering fresh oxygen across an astronaut's face to continuously wash away exhaled carbon dioxide. The gas then routes back through the life-support system's CO2 scrubber before recirculating oxygen.
“Every minute astronauts spend outside their vehicle, the LCVG is working to keep them safe,” said Russell Ralston, Axiom Space Senior Vice President of Spacecraft Development. “It manages their thermal environment, supports their breathing, and does it all while they're pushing their bodies to the limit. The work we have done with Prada has taken that capability to a level we could not have achieved alone.”
Click here to learn more about Axiom Space's AxEMU Spacesuits
