Overview
- Axiom Space and Prada publicly revealed the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at a Manhattan event as the close‑to‑skin inner layer for Axiom’s AxEMU lunar spacesuit.
- The LCVG circulates cold water through tubing knitted into the fabric to remove heat, routes fresh oxygen and exhaled CO2 to the suit’s life‑support scrubber, and includes a redundant cooling line for backup.
- Axiom says the garment is designed for comfort during up to eight‑hour extravehicular activities and to tolerate the lunar South Pole’s extreme temperature swings by using tailored materials and integrated tubing layouts.
- The company plans to deliver a qualification suit to NASA by the end of 2026 and a prototype for in‑space testing in 2027, but NASA has not yet chosen whether that test will fly to the ISS or be demonstrated on Artemis III and oversight reports have flagged schedule risk.
- Prada’s role draws on its vertical manufacturing and soft‑goods expertise to produce custom, scalable garments, a development that signals growing interest from luxury and apparel firms in the commercial space market and could change how suits are made and fitted for astronauts.