According to a large team of technical and health specialists, astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will be well protected from radiation when the Artemis II mission travels to the moon and back next year.
In their study published in the journal Nature, the group analyzed data collected from sensors inside and outside the Orion spacecraft as it made two moon flybys in 2022. They also studied data from sensors on the spacesuits worn by two dummies that went along for the ride.
NASA plans to send four astronauts to the moon next year as part of the Artemis II mission. The astronauts will be carried to the moon in the Orion spacecraft, where they will conduct a flyby before returning to Earth.
For this new study, the research team studied data from the Artemis I mission, which conducted a similar trip with dummies instead of human astronauts. The purpose of the mission was to establish the viability and safety of sending humans back to the moon, and one of the safety issues under study was exposure to radiation, both from the sun and from extrasolar sources.
To learn more about the amount of radiation striking astronauts traveling to the moon and back, the builders of the Orion spacecraft added radiation sensors to several sites on both its exterior and interior. The spacesuit designers did the same and even gave one of the dummies that traveled to the moon and back a special protective vest.
The researchers analyzed the data from all the sensors to learn more about the amount of radiation exposure future astronauts aboard Orion will experience. They found that the design of the spacecraft more than meets safety levels for future missions.
They also identified ways to minimize exposure. Turning the spacecraft to a certain position as it passes through the Van Allen belt could reduce exposure by approximately 50%.
They also noted that there were large differences in the amount of exposure in different parts of the space capsule. The most protected areas received four times less radiation than the least protected areas. Therefore, the astronauts could be protected during the most severe solar events simply by directing them to the most well-protected parts of the ship.
More information:
Stuart P. George et al, Space radiation measurements during the Artemis I lunar mission, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07927-7
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Artemis I mission data show astronauts sent to the moon aboard Orion will be protected from radiation (2024, September 19)
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