NASA recently announced the launch of what's described as a "bizarre experiment" that will see it send a pair of plastic dummies to the Moon to test the effect of space radiation on female astronauts.
Named Helga and Zohar, a report from the Daily Star said they will travel for six weeks around the moon on the Artemis I shuttle.
They will employ to test the impacts of space radiation on female adult humans ahead of a mission to send humans to the moon.
While this particular mission is designed and developed to allow women to ultimately travel to the moon by 2025, it will mean that mannequins reach the Earth's closest neighbor, an actual woman does, which may not be a triumph for feminism.
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The massive Artemis I rocket rolls past the countdown clock atop a mobile launch platform en route to Launch Pad 39B from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 17, 2022.
Female Mannequins for Moon Missions
Designed to emulate female bodies, the two mannequins will be covered in roughly 10,000 special sensors. This will gather data on the impacts of space radiation and be utilized to keep woman astronauts safe on subsequent Moon missions.
One of the mannequins will wear a radiation shield vest to test how effective it is. Additionally, the torsos will not get to walk on Moon but, instead, will be made to remain on the Artemis I shuttle.
This mission has been explained and described based on research that proposes that radiation exposure is more likely to result in infertility and cancer in women.
The findings will inform the Artemis 2 mission of NASA around the Moon in 2024, succeeded by an actual landing on the Moon by 2025, The Sun said in a similar report.
Exposure to Space Radiation
In a statement NASA made in 2020 and updated early this year, the American space agency said astronauts on the Space Station are exposed to radiation levels approximately 50 times higher than that people on Earth had experienced.
It added that farther from the magnetic field of the Earth and into interplanetary space, the radiation exposure level during exploration missions could be much higher, up to 150 times more.
In addition to this, human beings exposed to huge amounts of radiation can encounter acute and chronic health issues ranging from immediate radiation sickness to developing severe illnesses like cancer for one, n the future.
Shielding Effect
As specified in a Phys.org report, the atmosphere of Earth and the shielding effect of its magnetic field protects most of the radiation in the Universe, which includes radiation from the sun.
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Essentially, when astronauts leave this planet, they are exposed to the full spectrum of radiation found in space. The Orion spacecraft, in particular, will experience two periods of intense radiation as it flies through the Van Allen Belt, once in the initial few hours from launch and upon its return to this planet, which harbors charged practices trapped by the magnetic field of the Earth.
Outside the protection of Earth's magnetic field, Orion will face a harsher radiation environment compared to the crew of the International Space Station, which is in the low orbit of Earth. NASA is yet to confirm when mannequins Helga and Zohar will undertake their trip to the Moon.
Related information about the female dummies to be sent to the moon is shown on Zenger's YouTube video below:
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