NASA Might Launch Artemis I Mission This November With the Goal of Measuring Cosmic Radiation Astronauts Could Face

Bad weather and technical issues have prevented the launch of NASA's Artemis I mission in August and September. NASA has been planning to launch Artemis I on November 14 after the delays in the past few months, Space.com reported. But typhoon cyclone Nicole is bearing down on Florida's Atlantic Coast so the launch date has been pushed back by two days on November 16.

The mission is the first step in NASA's plan to send back astronauts to the Moon and eventually establish a sustainable outpost on the lunar surface. It will contribute to the groundwork needed for a mission to Mars and possibly beyond.

(Photo : Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images)
In this handout photo provided by NASA, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher as it rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on November 3, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

First Mission of Orion Spacecraft Aboard the Space Launch System

Scientists have been working on understanding cosmic radiation as the American space agency prepares to take astronauts back to the Moon and beyond, NASA wrote in their blog post earlier this year. Cosmic radiation can pose a significant threat to humans as being exposed to large amounts can cause acute and chronic health problems.

But Artemis I's mission this month will also see the first flight of the Orion spacecraft aboard the Space Launch System The Orion will pass through two periods of intense radiation within the first few hours to launch and again when it returns to Earth as it travels through the Van Allen Belts, which contains trapped space radiation around Earth's magnetosphere.

the spacecraft will be subjected to harsh deep space cosmic radiation environments, such as solar energetic particles from the Sun during solar flares and particles from galactic cosmic rays from outside the galaxy, as it travels beyond the protection of the magnetic field.

Orion is designed to ensure the reliability of essential spacecraft systems during potential radiation events. It has a makeshift storm shelter for the crew to shield them and the hardware from solar energetic particles.

However, galactic cosmic rays are more challenging to escape because of their more energetic particles that can pass through metals, plastic, water, and cellular material, and generate secondary particles along the way.

Artemis I: Measuring Cosmic Radiation for Future Space Missions

The SLS and Orion spacecraft will help the uncrewed Artemis I mission to study the radiation environment of deep space that is present in the lunar and Martian missions.

Inside the spacecraft is a host of instruments and experiments to measure the cosmic radiation future crews will experience and develop effective protection for them.

Phys.org reported that when it blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the uncrewed Artemis I will carry two mannequins strapped into its crew module as part of the project aided by a team from Duke University bioengineers with support from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).

Each phantom mannequin will be outfitted with sensors that will measure the accumulated radiation in different parts of the body that astronauts would absorb during the space flight to the Moon. Behrouz Shabestari, Ph.D. said that diverse anthropomorphic phantoms have been critical tools to fine-tune medical scans, like X-rays and CT scans as they represent the human anatomy.

The phantoms are a realistic, dynamic, and diverse representation of female anatomy since researchers have done previous radiation exposure experiments with a male phantom aboard the International Space Station (ISS). More so, female anatomy is more sensitive to radiation exposure than male anatomy so scientists can draw more data.