Israeli Radiation Shielding Vest Tested on NASA Artemis 1 Deep Space Mission

A new study published in Science Advances reports on a deep space experiment testing a wearable, targeted radiation shield called AstroRad, developed by Israeli company StemRad. The experiment took place during NASA's Artemis 1 mission in late 2022, in collaboration with the Israeli Space Agency, the German Aerospace Center, and other partners. Two female adult body mannequins were flown aboard the Orion spacecraft for 25.5 days: one wore the AstroRad vest, while the other did not. Thirty-four active radiation sensors and thousands of passive sensors were placed inside and around the mannequins to measure exposure.

Although no significant solar particle storm occurred during the mission, researchers used a model validated against the collected data to simulate two historical solar storm scenarios. In the August 1972 event simulation, the vest reduced effective radiation dose from 222.3 to 87.5 millisieverts, a 60.7% decrease. In the October 1989 event, with more energetic particles, the model predicted a reduction from 233.5 to 143.6 millisieverts, or 38.5%. The vest’s core shielding material is high-density polyethylene, rich in hydrogen, designed to protect sensitive organs such as bone marrow, lungs, stomach, colon, breasts, and ovaries. The tested vest weighed about 26 kilograms on Earth.

Researchers found that targeted shielding improved effective dose reduction by approximately 30% compared to uniform whole-body shielding of the same mass. The vest is intended to complement spacecraft shielding, allowing astronauts to remain mobile and perform critical tasks during radiation events. The study estimates the vest could preserve the equivalent of 40 to 193 allowable deep space mission days, though this is a modeled estimate rather than a guaranteed mission extension.

Israeli Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Gila Gamliel, highlighted the results as evidence of Israel’s scientific and technological contributions to global space research. Meanwhile, several Israeli companies and organizations have submitted proposals for experiments on the upcoming Artemis 3 mission, with some passing NASA’s initial screening. Final experiment selections and mission assignments remain at NASA’s discretion.