Space travel: Data from moon travel dolls are evaluated in Cologne

The two research dolls Helga and Zohar have traveled around the moon - back on earth they are now awaiting very intensive investigations.

Space travel: Data from moon travel dolls are evaluated in Cologne

The two research dolls Helga and Zohar have traveled around the moon - back on earth they are now awaiting very intensive investigations. As the German Aerospace Center (DLR) announced, the two artificially recreated bodies have now arrived in Cologne.

The evaluation of more than 12,000 radiation detectors made of small crystals that were placed on Helga and Zohar is now beginning there. "We take Helga and Zohar apart slice by slice in order to expand the measuring crystals," said project manager Thomas Berger about the procedure. These can then be read out at the DLR with laboratory equipment.

The two dolls flew around the moon in 2022 with the "Artemis 1" mission of the US space agency Nasa. With their help, the exposure to radiation during such trips for people is to be examined more closely. So-called cosmic radiation is many times higher in space than on Earth and is considered one of the unsolved medical challenges of astronautics. Helga and Zohar were specially modeled on female bodies, including their reproductive organs.

The aim of the scientists is now to be able to provide a three-dimensional image of the radiation exposure of the female body during a moon flight. However, the evaluation of the data will take months, they explained. Detailed results are expected by early next year.

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