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On flight day 13, Orion reached its maximum distance from Earth during the Artemis I mission when it was 268,563 miles away from our home planet. Orion has now traveled farther than any other spacecraft built for humans. Credit: NASA uncrewed Artemis I mission, researchers from NASA, along with several collaborators, flew payloads onboard Orion to measure potential radiation exposure to astronauts.
Radiation measurements were taken inside Orion by 5,600 passive sensors and 34 active radiation detectors during its 25.5-day mission around the Moon and back, which provided important data on exposure within the Earth's Van Allen radiation belt. These detailed findings were published in a recent scientific article through a collaborative effort by NASA's Space Radiation Analysis Group, the DLR (German Space Center), and ESA (European Space Agency).
The measurements show that while radiation exposure can vary depending on location within Orion, the spacecraft can protect its crew from potentially hazardous radiation levels during lunar missions. Space radiation could pose major risks to long-duration human space flights, and the findings from the Artemis I mission represent a crucial step toward future human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, to the Moon, and eventually to Mars. NASA's HERA (Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessor) and Crew Active Dosimeter, which were tested previously on the International Space Station, and ESA's Active Dosimeter, were among the instruments.
.. Laura Sorto.
