Before sending a new team ofastronautsto the Moon, NASA and ESA have a delicate matter to resolve: learning how to protect space explorers fromsolar flares. Indeed, our satellite is fully exposed to solar storms. “It has neither an atmosphere nor a magnetic field to deflect radiation,” explains solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. “The protons hurtling toward the Moon just hit the ground, or whoever was walking outside.”
Radiation is measured inbusiness. One rem is the dose of radiation that causes the same damage to human tissue as 1 roentgen of X-rays. Exposure to 50 rem of ionizing radiation can make us sick, with symptoms such as vomiting, fatigue, and low red blood cells. To die from radiation, however, it is precious to absorb immediately (that is, in a single exposure) 300 rem or more. And those doses are dangerously frequent during solar storms.
To find out how flares from the Sun affect our body, the European Space Agency (ESA) hasMatroshka, a life-size artificial human torso. It is made of natural bone and a special plastic that mimics the density of the organs and tissues of the human body. Also, in your stomach and bone marrow they have been placedliving blood cells. In this way scientists can study how much DNA suffers when it is “attacked” by radiation, if the damage is irreparable, and if it can lead the cell to self-destruction or, even more dangerous, to lose control and become cancerous (leukemia).
The best thing is that, no matter how much you expose yourself toMatroshka to the solar flares, a transfusion and a couple of repairs are enough for the artificial astronaut to continue enjoying iron health. So far it has already traveled to the International Space Station (ISS). And now, with your help, they will test different spacesuits and security measures to apply to future flesh and blood explorers preparing to visit the Moon and Mars.
The complete installation ofMatroshka It is composed of several different layers, hence it is named after the famous Russian dolls.
