DLR provides female measuring mannequins for the NASA Artemis I mission
Published Date: 5/3/2022
Source: phys.org
In 2022, NASA's Artemis I mission will send a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew to the moon for the first time in almost 50 years. On this uncrewed test flight, it will be the twin measuring mannequins Helga and Zohar on board the Orion capsule. The MARE experiment devised by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), will use two identical "phantoms" representative of the female body to investigate radiation exposure throughout the flight, which may last up to six weeks. The mission is vital in light of NASA's plan to send the first woman to the moon during the Artemis program. Researchers at the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne developed the experiment and have now delivered it to NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for installation. A new radiation protection vest also forms part of the experiment and will undergo testing. Artemis I is now planned to launch in summer 2022. The assembly and installation of the measuring mannequins is scheduled to take place approximately four weeks before the launch.