NASA’s Artemis I to Launch BioSentinel to Study Radiation Effects on Human Health

NASA’s Artemis I mission, slated for launch on Aug. 29, will deploy a CubeSat that will allow the space agency to gain more knowledge about the effects of deep space radiation on human health in support of its future plans to bring astronauts to the lunar surface and beyond.

The satellite, called BioSentinel, will carry yeast as part of its long-duration mission to determine how microorganisms will react to high-energy galactic cosmic rays and bursts of solar particles that may damage electronics and living cells. Yeast was selected for the experiment because it has biological similarities to human cells, NASA said.

Artemis I will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is the first in the series of Artemis missions to test the agency’s Orion exploration spacecraft, Space Launch System rocket and ground systems.

While Orion is designed to carry humans, for this mission, it will take an uncrewed flight 40,000 miles past the moon where no human transportation spacecraft has gone. The capsule will take off on board the SLS, which recently underwent flight termination system testing.

“Once the flight termination system testing is complete, teams will complete final closeouts on SLS and Orion before it rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building,” NASA said. 

Besides BioSentinel, Artemis I will carry 10 secondary payloads, including science and technology investigations or technology demonstrations that aim to enable deep space human exploration.