The Taylor Star-STEM,Business and Political Science: February 2020

Friday, February 28, 2020

Monday, February 17, 2020

Radiation a Prime Focus of Artemis 1 Mission - new vest to be tested

One of NASA's main concerns about astronaut health in deep space missions to the Moon and later to Mars and beyond,exposure to space radiation,will be carefully studied during the uncrewed Artemis 1 Mission to the Moon and back.Part of the mission is called the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE) and will be conducted by the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).It will be a series of measurements of space radiation levels during the spaceflight and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the new AstroRad radiation protection vest,a product of Israeli startup firm StemRad and Orion Program prime contractor Lockheed Martin.*
Without Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field for shielding,astronauts in deep space will be exposed to the full spectrum of space radiation.Space radiation consists of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) from the wider universe and Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) from the Sun.GCRs are high energy protons (85%);helium (14%); and other High Energy Nuclei (HZE ions).SEPs are mainly protons accelerated by the Sun to high energies via proximity to solar flares and coronal mass ejections (Solar Proton Events).ISS crews are exposed to about 50x the radiation levels we experience on Earth;but deep space crews can expect to experience up to 150x the Earth's radiation levels.High levels of space radiation could result in both acute (radiation sickness) and chronic (cancer) effects.*
The AstroRad vests will be worn by two identical torso mannequins in the Orion spacecraft,which will travel around 280,000 miles from Earth and then thousands of miles past the Moon,NASA said.The mannequins,known as "phantoms",will be specially constructed of materials resembling human bone,soft tissues and organs of an adult female.Adult females are are typically more sensitive to space radiation than males,though both need special protection.The phantoms will have a 3-cm grid embedded throughout them to enable mapping of internal radiation doses to areas of the body containing critical organs.Scientists will evaluate how much space radiation astronauts can expect to experience on Orion during a lunar mission.*
The ISS has already been testing the AstroRad vest in the Comfort and Human Factors AstroRad Radiation Garment Experiment (CHARGE).This probes the ergonomics,range of motion and general user experience of the vests.The vests are made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to protect the bone marrow,lungs,stomach,breasts and ovaries from ionising radiation.*
Artemis 1 is expected to be launched between late 2020 and mid-2021,dependent upon how well the final testing of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket go.*
Lockheed Martin (LMT)