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Axiom Space and Prada unveiled their inner-layer astronaut suit, the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG), aiming for its use on the return to the lunar surface in Artemis IV, currently scheduled for 2028.
As crew members perform spacewalks, they generate significant heat. The LCVG circulates cold water through tubes, absorbing and carrying the heat away, where it will then be expelled into space. It also features a backup cooling circuit.
“Every minute astronauts spend outside their vehicle, the LCVG [will be] working to keep them safe,” says Russell Ralston, senior vice president of spacecraft development, Axiom Space.
The garment also has a separate loop of tubes delivering fresh oxygen across an astronaut’s face and continuously washing away exhaled carbon dioxide. The gas is then routed back through the life-support system’s CO2 scrubber before recirculating oxygen.
“The future of space exploration will not be built by any one entity alone, and our partnership with Prada is proof of that,” says Jonathan Cirtain, Ph.D., CEO and president, Axiom Space. “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 two companies also worked together on the exterior layer, the AxEMU, which was unveiled in 2024.
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