In 4 months, the Canadian Jeremy Hansen will take off on the Moon – where he will also be a human insum pig

If everything goes as expected, next February could see the return of humans to the moon. Four people – Astronauts from NASA Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and the astronaut of the Canadian space agency Jeremy Hansen – will see him as a person before. Not even Apollo astronauts because a large part was dark during their missions.

Artemis II is a mission to send the four around the moon, taking them further than any human. Their objective is to help prepare Artemis III, who will see boots on the moon for the first time since 1972.

Although they are responsible for testing the many systems and capacities of the spacecraft, the four are also very guinea pig in space.

During the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s, NASA collected rock samples on the moon and has led experiences on its surface, but one thing that it did not do is to know more about the reaction of the human body in deep space.

Artemis seeks to change this.

“Our absolute priority is to bring our friends back to home,” said Jacob Bleacher, chief scientist of NASA exploration at a press conference last week.

“To do this, we have developed an integrated research campaign that will support all of our future Artemis missions to make sure that we can travel safely in space and bring everyone home. And it really starts by trying to understand the space environment.”

Human bodies were not intended for travel in space. We have evolved to live on earth, protected by our magnetosphere against harmful radiation and cosmic rays and more. But if we are going to venture into space and try to live on the moon or Mars, we must know how we can protect ourselves better.

Avatar (no, not the film)

Some experiences have already started.

Archer, or Artemis Research for Crew Health & Readiness, is one of them.

In this experience, astronauts carry a watch device that monitors their sleep, stress and cognition before launch, during the mission and once their return.

“We are the greatest flight experience, the individual,” Hansen told CBC News. “We spend a lot of time now collecting data on our body … But a large part of science is sort of behind the scenes for us. We are experience. “”

The results will help plan future missions and the support of the crew.

Then there is an avatar, or an analog response of virtual astronaut fabric (NASA loves its acronyms).

NASA wants to understand how Deep Space affects human bodies, in particular extreme radiation and microgravity, but it is difficult to prick and produce astronauts in a small environment. Instead, they have developed an avatar, which acts, finally, as an avatar for these individuals.

The blood cells were collected here for the four astronauts, then put on a chip roughly the size of a USB inch. The collection acts as a replacement for their bone marrow, which plays a vital role in our immune systems. It is also sensitive to radiation.

“Once we understand what is happening in deep space, especially in the radiation environment – I have a radiation training – so it is really important for me and for the agency to understand how we can protect our astronauts so that we can send them to these missions of exploration of deep space and ensure that they return in good health,” said CBC News.

Being armed with this information, said Carnell, could help provide personal countermeasures to protect future astronauts in missions in deep space. But she also noted that they could use this information for similar countermeasures here on Earth.

Lick here please

We may not think of our saliva much, but it is “essentially a window on the operation of our immune system,” said Bleacher.

Astronauts from Artemis II have already provided NASA samples, but once in space, they will collect “dry” saliva samples, which means that they lick special paper in pocket booklets that will return to earth for a more in -depth study.

The goal? To analyze how astronauts’ immune systems, including hormones, viruses and cells react to things like radiation and isolation. They will also see if dormant viruses are reactivated or not in deep space. In 2024, a study was published on an astronaut from the International Space Station which had the herpes Zoster virus which causes shingles.

“This research gives an overview of how a person’s immune system will be assigned during these deep space missions that will fly in the future,” said Bleacher.

Although it is not as glamorous as walking on the Moon, as the Mission Artemis III will be, Artemis II lay the foundations for long -term human presence in space, even if it takes decades.

“When I look at the future, when we talk about our inheritance, I don’t want to look at five or 10 years in the future. I want to watch 100 or 200 years in the future. And honestly, that’s where I thought it could be bad: I hope we are forgotten,” Wiseman said at a NASA press conference last week.

“If we are forgotten, then Artemis has succeeded. We have humans on Mars. We have humans on Monday of Saturn. We are developing in the solar system.

“And it may be our footnote: we inspired Susie or Johnny to do what they did. It would be magic.”