The widely anticipated Artemis I mission is set to launch in January 2022, marking NASA’s return to planned lunar missions, which itself is marked by symbolically naming the missions Artemis, the mythological twin of Apollo, for whom the previous lunar missions were named. No humans will be on board the Orion when it launches, but rather three non-human mannequins. The first, a full human stand-in named Commander Moonikin Campos following an online poll, will make sure the spacecraft itself is safe for humans. A mockup of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The other two are female-bodied model human torsos known as phantoms. Named Zohar and Helga by NASA’s partners in the mission, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and German Aerospace Center (DLR) respectively, their job is to take part in the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE), which will provide data on radiation levels in lunar missions as well as testing the usability of the AstroRad vests. The vests have already been sent to the International Space Station for the Comfort and Human factors AstroRad Radiation Garment Evaluation (CHARGE) study meant to test the vest in a microgravity environment. This study will help improve the vest’s fit and function.

Having been made in partnership between an American and Israeli company, the vest proudly displays the flags of both countries. Both tests are being conducted by NASA in partnership with the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and could see the AstoRad become a critical component for NASA’s future space exploration plans.

— NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) October 19, 2021 The vests, made by Tel Aviv-based company StemRad in partnership with aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin, were designed as personal protective equipment to shield astronauts from space radiation exposure outside the Earth’s magnetosphere.

Israeli scientists inspect Beresheet in Yehud (credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS) Israel is also advancing its own planned lunar mission, however. This mission, dubbed Beresheet 2, will be a follow-up to the 2019 one which saw the Jewish state attempt to become the fourth country to attempt a Moon landing.

“It would be wonderful if we could develop a space program that would be a combination of Israel and the Arab world,” SpaceIL’s chairman Morris Kahn told the Global Investment Forum in Dubai on Wednesday. It was almost a success, but the mission control lost contact with the lander just minutes before landing, causing it to crash. Nonetheless, the lander did make it to the lunar surface, making Israel the fourth country to accomplish this, and making the firm behind the lander, SpaceIL, the first private entity to do so.  Undeterred, the Beresheet 2 mission was announced days later. Now, Israel hopes to partner with one of its new regional allies, the UAE, to advance this mission forward.

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