Light Start: Prada in space, Switch 2’s EU case, Netflix’s soccer ace, and the X-59 sets pace

NASA astronauts will soon be wearing Prada underwear

NASA’s Artemis program is an extensive collaboration, with folks like SpaceX and Blue Origin standing alongside… well, Prada. Technically, the luxury brand isn’t working on its own, having partnered with Axiom Space to help create the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit. Both have now unveiled the underwear that astronauts will wear while out in the vast coldness of space. It’s called the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment, because humans need life support while on the lunar surface. The ‘Prada’ part of the partnership is mostly so regular people will pay attention to it.

Okay, fine, the brand also has some scientific input. The underwear “draws on Prada’s expertise in engineered knitting and innovative design concepts, resulting in a next-generation garment developed through advanced 3D modelling techniques that maintain cooling and ventilation while enhancing comfort during up to eight-hour spacewalks.” In keeping with Prada’s tendencies here on Earth, they’re also bound to be ferociously expensive. No, you can’t buy a set for yourself.

A Nintendo Switch 2 with a swappable battery to launch in the EU (send it here too, please)

Nintendo’s Switch 2 will soon have a new version of the console on the market. It’s destined for the European Union, mostly because the EU loves to throw regulations at companies. The new console will include a swappable battery to comply with one of these regulations. Specifically, “from February 18th, 2027, batteries integrated into certain appliances and sold in the EU must be easily replaceable by end-users at any time during the lifetime of the product.”

Nintendo doesn’t say how these consoles will differ from the original hardware, but a swappable battery is needed to comply. The gaming giant has a little under a year to come up with a plan, and it seems to have one. There are detailed plans to designate the console specifically for the EU market. How easy it’ll be to perform the swap remains to be seen. If it’s as simple as swapping an old Nokia dumbphone’s battery, we’d quite like to see them launch here as well. Extending a gaming session by dropping a new battery in would be awesome. Nintendo would probably also make a bundle selling battery packs.

Netflix has a football game launching later this week

We’ve been expecting it for some time, but Netflix has finally announced the launch of its FIFA football game for subscribers. FIFA World Cup Launch Edition will launch on the same day the World Cup decimates global productivity on 11 June. It’ll be playable on smartphones, with basic touch controls letting players while away the hours before the next kickoff. It’ll be free for Netflix subscribers, of course. It’ll also be exclusive to the platform, so you may have to jump through some illegal hoops to play it another way.

According to Netflix, “you’ll be able to play as any of the 48 teams in the tournament, travel to the 16 real-world stadiums, and take control of any of the 1,248 players in the Cup. So as the drama of the sport plays out, you can share every goal, save and celebration right on the couch with your friends and family.” It’s an ambitious release, given how finicky football simulator players tend to be. But this one’s intended for the everyday player, not the guys and girls who live and die by their Fantasy Premier League rankings.

NASA’s X-59 supersonic plane finally goes… well, supersonic

Supersonic flight is on the way back, with NASA’s X-59 plane doing the legwork. We’ve been tracking its progress for some time, and there’s finally an update. The X-59 ‘quiet’ supersonic plane has finally broken the sound barrier. The test flight took place over the weekend, lasting 81 minutes. In that time, the plane reached a maximum speed of 1,147km/h. That’ll get you just about anywhere in South Africa in 60 minutes, no matter where your starting point is.

There are more tests to come, with the X-59 expected to eventually reach Mach 1.4 (around 1,500km/h) before the testing really begins. Once that milestone is reached, it’ll ” eventually fly over several U.S. communities, enabling NASA to gather data about how people may perceive its quiet thump.” The ‘quiet thump’ is the big deal here. Should the design allow for high-speed travel without the massive shockwave, we could reach our destinations faster than ever… assuming we can afford tickets on whatever comes next.

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