On November 16, 2022, NASA’s new mega moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), carried the uncrewed Orion spacecraft into space on the Artemis I mission – the first integrated test of NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Systems that will eventually enable human exploration on the Moon and Mars. While no astronauts were aboard this flight, Orion carried some special “passengers” to help evaluate components critical to crew safety, including radiation protection technologies.
One of the most cutting-edge experiments on Artemis I was the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE) – a collaboration between the Israel Space Agency (ISA), NASA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Lockheed Martin, and Israeli company StemRad. MARE tested the AstroRad radiation protection vest developed by StemRad to shield astronauts’ vital organs from dangerous space radiation during missions beyond low Earth orbit.
The Dangers of Deep Space Radiation
Radiation exposure is one of the biggest health risks for astronauts on deep space missions. Outside the protective envelope of Earth’s magnetic field, space is filled with ionizing radiation from solar flares, galactic cosmic rays from supernova explosions, and high energy protons trapped in the Van Allen Radiation Belts circling Earth. This radiation can damage DNA and increase long-term risk of cancer, as well as acute radiation sickness on very high dose exposures.
The Orion spacecraft and future lunar habitats will provide some shielding. However, the most mass-efficient solution is wearable radiation protection like StemRad’s AstroRad vest to safeguard astronauts’ critical organs. Female astronauts also face higher risk from space radiation, making solutions like the AstroRad vest essential.
Testing the Vest with “Astronaut Phantoms”
The best way to evaluate personal radiation shielding is to test it on a human form exposed to deep space conditions. To do this safely, MARE flew two female-bodied “phantoms”, Helga and Zohar, built from materials mimicking human bones, soft tissues, and organs. The phantoms wore a total of 5600 radiation detectors to measure organ doses. Zohar wore the AstroRad vest to evaluate how much protection it provides.
The phantoms launched safely aboard Orion, collecting radiation data as they circled the Moon and back. Preliminary results presented in December 2022 show the vest significantly reduced radiation exposure to critical organs like lungs, stomach, ovaries, and bone marrow. The full data analysis is still underway, but so far the vest’s performance has exceeded expectations.
The Development of the AstroRad Vest
The AstroRad is the culmination of over a decade of work by Dr. Oren Milstein, founder and CEO of StemRad. Milstein was inspired to research anti-radiation gear by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. He founded StemRad in 2012 to develop wearable radiation protection, first for first responders to nuclear accidents and later for space travel.
The core technology behind AstroRad is “smart” shielding layers using proprietary polymers and selective metal composites that are more protective than traditional lead aprons, while weighing much less. This helps block cancer-causing ionizing radiation like gamma rays and x-rays. The vest is tailored to shield organs sensitive to radiation damage, like bone marrow, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and ovaries.
In 2016, StemRad partnered with Lockheed Martin with support from NASA and the Israel Space Agency to adapt their technology for deep space exploration. Optimizing the vest for spaceflight conditions took extensive materials research and testing to meet NASA’s strict flammability and off-gassing standards for spacecraft environments. The vest also underwent radiation testing at particle accelerator facilities to validate its protective abilities.
What’s Next for the AstroRad Vest?
The outstanding early results from the Matroshka experiment indicate the AstroRad vest could be a game-changing technology to enable longer, safer deep space missions for astronauts. However, more analysis and testing is still needed.
StemRad plans to test an improved AstroRad vest design on the International Space Station for extended wear-testing by astronauts. Meanwhile, the Artemis I data will be scrutinized to help further optimize the vest for even better protection weighed against mass and ergonomics.
If all goes well, the AstroRad vest could become standard equipment for the first woman and next man to walk on the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission. Beyond the Moon, the vest may help make ambitious future missions to Mars possible by shielding astronauts from dangerous radiation exposure on the long interplanetary journeys. StemRad also aims to commercialize AstroRad technology for space tourism and other commercial spaceflight participants to help open the space frontier.
The Matroshka experiment’s early success demonstrates how global cooperation advances human space exploration. The Artemis program will take teamwork between leading space agencies like NASA, ESA, JAXA, and newcomers like the Israel Space Agency to achieve sustainable deep space missions. As humanity prepares to return to the Moon and eventually reach Mars, innovations like StemRad’s AstroRad vest will be critical to keeping astronauts safe on these bold voyages of discovery.