Israeli-American radiation shielding company StemRad said Wednesday that the last test flight around the moon prior to NASA's first manned deep space missions would include the launching of the company's AstroRad radiation protection vests.
The AstroRad protection vests, developed for use by first responders, astronauts and soldiers, would be on board NASA's Orion EM-1 mission, the company said, thanks to an agreement between NASA and the Israel Space Agency.
The agreement was signed by NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot and Israel Space Agency Director Avi Blasberger at a Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, the company said.
The AstroRad protection vest, developed with NASA's prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, is an adaptation of the StemRad 360 Gamma wearable shield that is used among first responders around the world, according to a statement.
The 360 Gamma protects the pelvis, a critical site for bone marrow creation.
To date, the majority of manned space flight has involved missions in low earth orbit, circumnavigating the planet at orbits within 1,200 miles of earth. In these fights, the Earth's magnetosphere repels most of the radiation threat inherent in ambient space – threats that are caused by either solar storms or galactic cosmic rays. However, when venturing into long, manned deep space missions, the threat of radiation exposure is “significantly higher,” the company said. Accordng to StemRad, this radiation threat “poses one of the most significant challenges” in the effort to launch manned missions to the planet Mars.
In the upcoming flight, the company and NASA have developed an experiment in which one dummy will wear an AstroRad protection vest, while another will not. The Matroshka AstroRad dummies (taking the name from the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment – or MARE) will be outfitted with thousands of radiation detectors which will be supplied by the German Aerospace Center.
“While EM-1 will not likely encounter a solar storm, the mission will pass through the Van Allen radiation belt – a zone of energetic charged particles that emanate from solar winds – providing an opportunity to test AstroRad in conditions similar to those found during a solar storm. When passing through the belt, the radiation sensors in the dummies will be on and will record readings during the passage. Should the trial be successful, AstroRad will be used on the upcoming planned manned missions to deep space,” the company said.
Additionally, AstroRad is expected to be used aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2019 for advanced ergonomic studies in microgravity.