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Israeli Vest Cut Astronauts' Radiation Doses by Up to 60% in Artemis I Test

An Israeli-developed vest, tested aboard NASA's Artemis I mission around the Moon, cut simulated radiation doses to astronauts' organs by roughly 40% to over 60%, a new study finds.

Step by step

  1. 1

    GAMMA 360 built after Fukushima disaster

  2. 2

    Adapted into a space radiation vest

  3. 3

    Prototype tested aboard the ISS in 2019

  4. 4

    Zohar and Helga fly on Artemis I

  5. 5

    Study finds up to 60% dose cut

The AstroRad protective vest, developed by Israeli company StemRad with Lockheed Martin and the Israel Space Agency, is designed to shield astronauts from one of the biggest hazards of deep-space travel: exposure to high-energy particles released during solar storms. NASA considers this radiation one of the major risks it must overcome for extended crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.

The idea began on Earth. After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, StemRad developed a technology called GAMMA 360 to shield emergency and rescue workers from gamma radiation, focusing protection on the body's most vulnerable areas rather than wrapping the whole body in heavy shielding. Adapting the same principle for space meant developing a new solution for a different type of radiation.

The space vest is made from hydrogen-rich materials, including , which reduce exposure to the energetic charged particles released during solar storms. Its thickness varies by organ, giving extra shielding to parts of the body most sensitive to radiation, including the lungs, stomach, breasts, ovaries and bone marrow, whose damage weakens the body's ability to make blood cells and fight infection. This targeted approach lets astronauts keep working during solar storms that can last for days, instead of remaining inside a shielded area for the whole event.

A prototype reached the International Space Station in 2019, where female astronauts tested its comfort and mobility during microgravity tasks. The most significant test came during NASA's Artemis I mission in 2022, when two human-shaped mannequins named Zohar and Helga flew aboard the Orion spacecraft fitted with thousands of radiation sensors. Zohar wore the AstroRad vest and Helga did not; the pair travelled beyond the Moon and back over 25 days.

A study published in Science Advances in August used those Artemis I measurements to model how the vest would perform during powerful solar particle events. It found that AstroRad could reduce radiation doses to different organs by approximately 40% to more than 60%, depending on the intensity of the event and the organ measured.

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The story so far

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  5. Gut Bacteria Shift Explains Astronaut Constipation, Study Suggests
  6. NASA Restarts Swift Telescope's Instruments as Its Orbit Keeps Shrinking
  7. Israeli Vest Cut Astronauts' Radiation Doses by Up to 60% in Artemis I Test
#AstroRad#StemRad#radiation shielding#Artemis I#NASA#space health
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