As we reported earlier, NASA will also bring passive radiation detectors of our research group to the first uncrewed exploration mission to orbit around the Moon. Some new information has been released recently about the phantoms, in which the dose and the composition of the space radiation will be measured.
The two female phantoms, Helga and Zohar, will occupy the passenger seats in the Orion spacecraft. They are siblings, both of them torsos, made up of 38 slices of tissue-equivalent plastics. Their density varies according to the density of bones, soft tissue and lungs. There will be more than 5600 radiation detectors and dosimeters located mostly in the most sensitive organs, like the lungs, the stomach, the uterus and the bone marrow, including the ones provided by MTA EK. Thomas Berger, lead scientist of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE) at the German Aerospace Center, DLR explained that they chose female phantoms because the number of women astronauts was increasing, and also because the female body was typically more vulnerable to radiation.
Helga, the radiation dummy (credits: DLR)
The layers Helga and Zohar made of (credits: DLR)
Galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events pose a major health risk to astronauts on missions to the Moon. Astronauts on the International Space Station receive doses 250 higher than on Earth. Away from Earth’s magnetic field and into interplanetary space, the impact on the human body could be much higher – up to 700 times more.
The AstroRad radiation vest, made of polyethylene, will be worn by Zohar and it will cover and protect her upper body and uterus.
The AstroRad radiation vests (credits: Lockheed Martin/StemRad)
On Earth, dummies like Helga and Zohar are used in hospitals to quantify the right dose of radiation for cancer therapies. The developers at the Israeli StemRad company also relied on their expertise in protecting personnel in nuclear plants and emergency workers exposed to high levels of radiation or terrorist radiological threats.
Radiation dummies in Orion (credits: Lockheed Martin)
Helga undergoes vibration tests (credits: DLR)
credits: esa.int