In a recent development for lunar exploration in 2026, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has planned to use small chips to monitor astronautsin the ‘Artemis II mission’ for maintaining space health.
Scientists have informed us that without gravitational support in space, our health faces extreme challenges beyond our planet's protective influence for long periods, far from emergency care.
They claimed that space exploration over the past half-century has led to a range of problems for astronauts, including bone loss, changes in vision, weakening of the heart, and other major health issues.
As reported byScience Alert, researchers found that human anatomy isn't constructed according to space.
The Artemis II mission will lead several experiments on human health, featuring tissue samples collected from the astronauts and placed on small chips destined to be exposed to the same hazards of space travel that the astronauts face.
"We've identified five hazards of space flight,” said NASA's Human Research Program chief scientist Steve Platts.
According toNASA,the five hazards include Space radiation, isolation, distance from convenient support, lack of gravity, and, lastly, being stuck in a closed and hostile environment.
"Being in a tiny vehicle that's kind of smelly, kind of loud, it's difficult to sleep – all those kinds of things are part of that hazard," Platts explained.
Moreover, Platts and his team informed that they are already planning future missions to address potential health breakdowns by thoroughly investigating causes and seeking ways to overcome undiscovered obstacles.
NASA's Artemis lunar program is providing new opportunities to uncover human health complications in space through the Human Research Program.
The Human Research program includes 'standard measures' or ‘checks’ for astronauts before travelling to space.
These checks will include measurements of activity and exposure to light gathered through a wrist sensor, as well as a battery of tests for cognitive function and sensorimotor skills.
NASA’s Director for Biological and Physical Sciences, Lisa Carnell, informs that the Artemis II AVATAR program will be a bone marrow model created from each of the astronauts.
The American space agency explains the word ‘AVATAR’ is an acronym for ‘A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analogue Response’, which is the size of a standard USB drive.
AVATAR is described as an “organ-on-a-chip” that serves as a stand-in for human body systems while using tissues as surrogates for human test subjects in space.
"So, each astronaut in Artemis II is contributing their cells to create their own miniature avatars," said Lisa Carnell.
Lisa believes that the new program will provide NASA researchers with relevant physiological data on the molecular which can be compared to the crew members own immune system responses.
Moreover, NASA further informed that astronauts lined up for a tour to the Moon, Mars or even beyond may have samples of bone marrow, heart, liver, and brain or dozens of organs sent ahead for a test run.
Lisa informed that they are making these personal avatars to see what effect they create in deep space environment on astronauts, so they may develop countermeasures to deal with them.
"If we truly want to send humans to live on the lunar surface, to go out to Mars, we really need to understand and know before we go. And this will help us thrive in space, she added.
As per NASA, if the test run works as hoped, eventually these astronauts-on-chips could be sent out on scouting missions to assess health risks before live humans make the journey.