ORLANDO, Fla., December 24 (UPI) – NASA is testing a space radiation protection vest on the International Space Station that could protect astronauts from deadly solar flares on missions to the Moon and Mars.
Solar storms with high doses of radiation are among the biggest threats to astronauts in deep space missions. The worst of such storms could make space pilots too sick to function and eventually kill them.
The new vest is designed with flexible polyethylene shapes to suit men or women and protect their most vulnerable organs.
“We’re trying to see if astronauts can wear it for as long as possible without experiencing pain or discomfort,” said Oren Milstein, co-founder and CEO of vest manufacturer StemRad, based in Tampa and Tel Aviv, Israel.
“Several astronauts will wear a vest, with a maximum period of eight hours while they sleep,” Milstein said.
The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo capsule delivered the StemRad space vest, called AstroRad, to the space station in November 2019. Since then, astronauts have tested the vest, although NASA does not usually confirm who is involved in medical experiments.
StemRad helped develop the AstroRad vest based on its 360 gamma shield vest that protects first responders and has to cover radioactive scenes.
Milstein helped found the company in 2011, in part in response to stories of firefighters’ deaths after Russia’s 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
StemRad is developing a vest for Lockheed Martin, which is the supplier responsible for the Orion crew capsule in NASA’s planned missions to Artemis.
Orion includes a space chamber or radiation protection cabinet that can be switched over by astronauts in crisis, but that could only be sustainable for a short period, Milstein said. Radiation storms in space can last for days or weeks.
The vest provides targeted protection to the pelvis – where large amounts of bone marrow can absorb radiation – and other organs such as the lungs, breasts and ovaries, Milstein said.
“Trying to protect the whole body means adding a lot of weight,” he said. “You can reasonably protect a part of the body or a part of the body that happens to be the more sensitive part.”
The space vest is being produced at a cost of about $ 1 million, Milstein said, but the Israeli space agency is providing it as part of its contribution to the international effort on the lunar mission Artemis.
The vest on the space station is now a smaller version intended for women, but Milstein said it will be worn by a male astronaut someday.
NASA released a brief note in mid-December about testing that astronauts continue to test the vest.
“AstroRad effectively protects astronauts from ionizing radiation transmitted to space, provides operational simplification, and enables the use of recycled material in the vehicle,” NASA’s update states.
StemRad, meanwhile, has distributed limited new air suits to doctors and radiologists on Earth, who are facing increased radiation exposure due to medical scanning and radiation treatment equipment.
The medical suit, called StemRad MD, provides ease of use and better protection due to heavy lead clothing suspended from the exoskeleton frame that fits on the outside of the wearer, said Jean Bismuth, 53, a vascular surgery specialist at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas. He has had the suit since October.
“I was stunned when I first got it. I was running down the hallways. I can sit and steer or stand,” Bismuth said. “You have to have a little awareness of space because the frames are on the outside of the legs, but this is an improvement for ergonomics and safety.”
20 years on the International Space Station
The International Space Station was photographed by members of the Expedition 56 crew from the Soyuz spacecraft after unhooking on October 4, 2018. NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev flew around the orbiting laboratory to photograph the station space before returning home after spent 197 days in space. Photo courtesy of NASA / Roscosmos
Guinness World Records announced on October 19, 2020 that NASA astronauts Christina Koch (R) and Jessica Meir, who made history with the first spacewalk in space on October 18, 2019, were awarded the Guinness Book of World Records for this achievement. World Records 2021. The historic spacewalk took place at the ISS, where they worked on maintenance and upgrades. Although this was Koch’s fourth march, Meir was the first. Photo by NASA / UPI Photo License
Expedition 64 NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is seen checking her pressure in a Russian Sokol suit as she and crew colleagues Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos prepare to launch Soyuz on the ISS on October 14, 2020 at the spaceport Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The trio was launched at 1:45 a.m. EDT to begin a six-month mission on the ISS. Photo by Andrey Shelepin / GCTC / NASA | Photo License
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is happy to board the ISS after the opening of the Soyuz spacecraft hatch on March 28, 2015. Kelly traveled with an expedition of 43 Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalko Soyuz TMA-16M launched the day before from Baikonanur . Kelly and Kornienko spent a year in space each and returned to Earth on a Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
Astronaut William Shepherd (C), commander of the Expedition 1 mission, watches as the Union commander, cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko (L) and flight engineer, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, apply the final moves on his full-pressure suit as he lies on the couch. May 2000. Planned to return from a space station stay aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, the three took part in a rehearsal of their duties during the shuttle’s descent. Photo courtesy of NASA
Kelly took care of two crops in the Veggie Plant Growing Plant during the year in space. Understanding the most efficient ways to grow plants in microgravity is a key part of a future trip to Mars. Growing plants in space provides crew members with fresh food as a dietary supplement as well as a positive effect on morale and well-being. Photo courtesy of NASA
The Koper team photographed their breakfast floating inside the Unity module at the ISS on April 16, 2016. In a tweet, he noted “#Taco breakfast on #ISS: refreshed beans, shredded pork, pepper-jack cheese, eggs and salsa on a tortilla Great . ”Photo courtesy of NASA
Flight controllers at the ISS Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center monitor in-flight systems in orbit in the lab during a number of dynamic events for Expedition 44, August 10, 2015. Screens in front of the room show camera views of two Russian cosmonauts walking into space. astronaut Kjell Lindgren has been seen picking lettuce from a vegetarian experiment that would become the first food grown in space to be eaten. Photo by Bill Stafford / NASA
Expedition crew members 61, from left to right, NASA flight engineers Meir, Andrew Morgan and Koch with Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA unpacked fresh fruit and other goodies from a storage bag delivered on the Japanese cargo ship HTV-8 to ISS 7. October, 2019. Photo courtesy of NASA
Kelly hints at the delivery of fresh fruit arrived by the Kounotori 5 H-II (HTV-5) transport vehicle on August 25, 2015. The cargo ships they visit often carry a small bill of fresh food for crew members on the ISS. Photo courtesy of NASA
NASA astronauts Jeff Williams (shown here) and Rubins successfully installed a new international docking adapter on August 19, 2016, during a 5-hour, 58-minute spacewalk. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi helped the duo from the space station, while all three then cleaned the Quest air chamber, where they stored their spacesuits and tools. Photo courtesy of NASA
Koch worked in a space vacuum 265 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa aboard the ISS on January 15, 2020. She and Meir conducted a spacewalk to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute energy collected from solar arrays on structures. Port-6 stations. Photo courtesy of NASA
Astronauts on board the ISS captured these images of star trails as they orbited the Earth on October 3, 2016, at a speed of 17,500 km / h. Photo courtesy of NASA
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy embarked on a spacewalk outside the ISS on June 16, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Behnken and Cassidy completed the first of two planned spacewalks on June 16, 2020, to replace the batteries on one of the two power channels on the far right carrier (S6 Truss) of the ISS. About this picture that Behnken posted on Twitter, he said: “Yesterday @Astro_SEAL shot this footage from our workplace on @Space_Station – @SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and @JAXA_en HTV in pure view. Not bad to look at while working … “Photo courtesy of NASA / Twitter | Photo License
Koch (L) and Meir are working on their American spacesuits ahead of the spacewalk they conducted to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute energy collected from solar arrays on the structural structure of station-6 on the ISS on January 15, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Commander Peggy Whitson is working on a media change at BioCell for the OsteoOmics experiment within the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox at Destiny US Lab at ISS, May 3, 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA
Rubins checks the sample for air bubbles before inserting it into the biomolecular sequencer in September 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
Roscosmos and Expedition Cosmonaut 63 Ivan Wagner transfers biological samples to the freezer for disposal and later analysis on the ISS on October 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Cassidy (L) and Behnken are working on American spacesuits inside ISS’s Quest Air Chamber. The two will go into space on June 26 and July 1, 2020, in order to start replacing the batteries for one of the energy channels in the orbiting laboratory. They replaced the obsolete nickel-hydrogen batteries for one of the two energy channels on the far right carrier of the station (S6 Truss) of the station with new lithium-ion batteries that arrived at the station by a Japanese cargo ship. This was the culmination of space walks to upgrade electricity that began in January 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA | Photo License
