Above: A woman wearing a prototype of Stemrad’s new protective vest, Astrorad, sits inside Russian spacecraft, Excalibur-Almaz Space Capsule, during a demonstration for Reuters, at Madatech, National Museum of Science Technology and Space in Haifa, Israel February 23, 2017. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
(Reuters) – A vest designed to shield astronauts from deadly solar particles in deep space is set for trials on a lunar mission ready for deployment on any manned mission to Mars, its Israeli developers said.
The AstroRad Radiation Shield has been devised by Tel Aviv-based StemRad, which has already produced and marketed a belt to protect rescue workers from harmful gamma ray radiation emitted in nuclear disasters, such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.
The vest will protect vital human tissue, particularly stem cells, which could be devastated by solar radiation in deep space or on Mars, whose sparse atmosphere offers no protection, StemRad’s CEO Oren Milstein said.
U.S. space agency NASA has said it hopes to send astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s.
