Artemis I dummies will save astronauts from space radiation during Moon trips; here's how

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) in a joint project with the Israel Space Agency tested a special vest that will be donned by a pair of mannequins on their flight during the uncrewed Artemis I mission. The mannequins named Helga and Zohra underwent the tests at the German space agency's headquarters in Cologne and have now been shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

There, the passengers will be integrated with the Orion spacecraft which will be mounted atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket ahead of its launch to the Moon later this year. Apart from these two, Orion would also have another passenger, a dummy that was chosen for Artemis I in June last year.

Purpose of the Artemis I mannequins

Three of Orion's seats will be occupied by the mannequins that will be used to monitor the effects of the launch and the space radiation that will be experienced by the astronauts. According to a blog published by the European Space Agency (ESA), both Helga and Zohra will be equipped with over 5,600 sensors each to measure the radiation load during their trip around the Moon. Notably, only one of the dummies, Zohar will be wearing a radiation protection vest, called AstroRad. Since the other will be unprotected, scientists will compare the radiation dose experienced by both and determine how to better protect the future astronauts.

(Illustration of three mannequins inside the Orion spacecraft; Image: NASA/Lockheed Martin/DLR)

In the image above, the three mannequins are shown occupying the seats of Orion, which would be propelled by the European Service Module (ESM) developed by ESA. The agency says that apart from providing spacecraft with propulsion, electricity, thermal control, air and water, the ESM would send the dummies farther than any human has ever gone (5,00,000 kilometres from Earth).

Notably, the newly added dummies are female-shaped to measure the effects of long-term spaceflights on women astronauts. This is because NASA is planning to send the first female astronaut to the Moon under its Artemis program. "We chose female phantoms because the number of women flying to space is increasing, and also because the female body is typically more vulnerable to radiation", DLR scientist Thomas Berger said in a statement. "When it comes to the harmful effects of space radiation, breasts and ovaries have a greater risk to develop cancer". 

Radiation in outer space

The radiation levels in outer space are 700 times greater than what we feel on Earth, thanks to the protective covering of our planet's magnetic field. Scientists are concerned about the two sources of radiation-- the one from outside the galaxy and the unpredictable ejection of charged particles from the sun. According to ESA, cosmic radiation is always there and they are powerful enough to pass through metals and plastic and hit human cells.

To find a solution to this, the two sister dummies with special vests will navigate through two periods of intense radiation within the first few hours of launch, and again back to Earth. During their trip, they would also pass through two giant "donuts of radiation", called the Van Allen Belts surrounding our planet. To ensure that the measurements are accurate, the engineers have made the mannequins with plastic that mimics the density of bones, muscles, and organs.

(Plastic parts used for the mannequins; Image: DLR)