The Artemis I mission, which recently completed a historic test flight around the moon, didn't have any astronauts on board, but it did have two very special passengers: Helga and Zohar, a pair of highly detailed dummy torsos. What is their goal? If a vest can protect astronauts from the unseen dangers of space, then it's a good idea to measure radiation exposure in deep space.
In order to learn more about the threat of space radiation and how to protect astronauts against it, we spoke to the CEO of the company that makes the vest and Scott Kelly, a veteran of space station missions.
The planet's magnetosphere protects us from harmful radiation. Radiation is safe on the surface because of the magnetic field around Earth. When astronauts visit the moon and other potential locations in the solar system, they are exposed to harmful radiation.
There are a variety of health problems that can be caused by exposure to this radiation, which consists of charged particles from the sun. Radiation exposure raises the chance that someone will get cancer. NASA and other space agencies have caps on how much radiation astronauts can be exposed to.
The exposure astronauts experience in the International Space Station is less than on a trip to the moon, but it still affects the crew. Scott Kelly, who has served multiple missions on the International Space Station, said that sometimes you can see rays hitting your eye and that radiation is also going through your body. It is something that you know about.
The issue of radiation exposure is a big concern with NASA's plans to send people to the moon and eventually to Mars. The astronauts on previous missions to the moon were not exposed to any solar particle events which raised radiation levels in the time they were away. We need a solution to protect astronauts from radiation.
The AstroRad vest can be used in that situation. The vest protects the most vulnerable organs from the sun's harmful rays. Many people in the space industry were surprised that radiation protection could only be applied to certain parts of the body. The best protection for astronauts is something that they can wear and still do their jobs.
It's not an all-or-nothing approach to protection. Some of the most vulnerable organs, like lungs or breast tissue, can be protected if you can.
We tend to think about risk in terms of immediate danger rather than a cumulative process. The fear of flying is different from the way we think about long-term health dangers. It's hard to imagine what cumulative radiation exposure looks like when you think about the dangers of rockets failing or the explosion of a spaceship.
One way to reduce cumulative exposure is to make protection that is good enough to offer some protection but also comfortable enough that astronauts will wear it. Kelly said that they wanted something that would protect you but also be something that you would want to wear. He was part of NASA's twin study on the effects of spaceflight on the human body and is currently a member of the StemRad advisory board.
A vest is used to protect parts of the body. Even if it only wears some of the time, it can still work. The product can be used for 70% of the time. It's possible to take a shower or do physical activity. Radiation is a series of events.
It's important for astronauts to be able to move around freely while wearing a vest. The AstroRad was put to the test on the International Space Station by five astronauts who wore it all the time.
The vest was fine for a lot of the important things, like eating and sleeping. The vest made unloading a cargo vehicle more difficult because it impeded certain movements.
Everything floats so unloading a cargo vehicle is difficult. It becomes a challenge when you open a bag and all the items are floating away. The challenge was mostly mental as it requires astronauts to be very careful and methodical. It will be harder to complete an already difficult task if movement is restricted.
Everything is harder to do in microgravity.
The vest is made of thousands of hexagons which are fitted into a mesh to make it flexible without sacrificing protection. The flexibility of this allows certain areas to have thicker protection than others, while still allowing movement. There is a plan for a modular system that will allow the vest to be shorter or longer in size.
The amount of radiation that was blocked was not assessed during the tests on the AstroRad on the International Space Station. The best way to test the vest is to see it in action.
The Artemis I mission, which was uncrewed, included the Helga and Zohar dummies, which are torso-shaped and filled with detectors. Teams will be able to see how effective the vest is at stopping radiation if one of the torsos is wearing it. They will be exposed to the same radiation environment that astronauts will be in when they go to the moon.
We will be able to quantify the radiation dose and the radiation penetration into the body in deep space for the first time. Validate a potential countermeasure. There is going to be a lot of data about human susceptibility to radiation in deep space.
Ionizing radiation is the most dangerous form of radiation for humans. The vest will be tested to see if it can stop another type of radiation. It is difficult to block background radiation, so the benefit is likely to be small.
It's always going to come with a degree of risk, and astronauts are taught to ignore it as part of their job. Kelly said that you are trained to focus on your job and things you can control. You know of the risk, but you don't let it ruin you.
There are a lot of risks astronauts deal with. Radiation is an unknown risk. It is a long-term risk you are exposing yourself to.
There is a moral obligation on space agencies to make their astronauts as safe as possible. Radiation protection will be an important part of the Artemis missions to the moon.
Balance is the key to Kelly's approach to risk management. He said that they made it as safe as possible. You wouldn't leave your house if you wanted your stuff to be safe.
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