NASA is sending human cells to the Moon on high-tech microchips that mimic astronaut organs

NASA is about to run a health check in deep space using tiny lab devices that carry living human cells. The goal is simple and serious, understand how space changes our bodies so crews can travel safely to the Moon and, later, to Mars.

The AVATAR investigation will put small organ chips made from Artemis II astronauts’ cells inside Orion for about 10 days as it loops around the Moon.

The AVATAR investigation will help NASA prepare targeted protections for each crew member based on real biological responses in space.

AVATAR and human cells

“AVATAR is NASA’s visionary tissue chip experiment that will revolutionize the very way we will do science, medicine, and human multi-planetary exploration,” said Nicky Fox from Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.

Each tissue chip is built as a small, personalized model that allows NASA to study how deep space affects an astronaut’s biology before they travel farther.

The results will help the agency prepare medical supplies that match the specific health needs of each crew member on missions to the Moon and Mars.

How organ chips work

An organ-on-a-chip is a thumb drive sized device built with human cells arranged to act like a specific tissue. These chips can mimic functions of the lung, liver, heart, brain, and more.

Researchers already use chips on Earth to predict how a person might respond to drugs or radiation.

The same approach can help crews by informing what goes in a personalized medical kit for missions that last weeks or months far from a clinic.

Chips can also be linked together to show organ to organ interactions. That linked view helps scientists spot side effects or unexpected changes that only appear when multiple systems are active at once.

Cells used in AVATAR

The AVATAR team is starting with bone marrow, the source of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

It is also one of the most sensitive tissues to radiation, which makes it a smart early target for safety planning.

Research shows microgravity reshapes bone structure and the marrow environment that supports blood forming stem cells.

Those changes can ripple into immunity and oxygen transport, issues no crew can afford on a long mission.

The chips for Artemis II use blood forming stem and progenitor cells taken from the astronauts’ donated samples and grown into bone marrow tissue on the device.

That lets NASA compare the exact same person’s cells in space and on Earth without guesswork.

Deep space radiation and humans

Earth’s magnetosphere acts like a shield that deflects many charged particles. Once Orion heads to lunar distance, crews meet more cosmic radiation, including galactic cosmic rays and solar particles.

Artemis I tracked radiation inside Orion and found dose rates varied widely with shielding and spacecraft orientation.

Those results help engineers and flight surgeons plan safer paths and procedures for crewed flights.

The AVATAR chips add a missing layer by showing how human cells actually respond to the deep space radiation that the detectors register. That cellular data is what turns raw numbers into medical decisions.

Studying the AVATAR cells

During the mission, the chips ride in a self contained box that controls temperature and feeds the cells on a schedule.

Space Tango built the payload to run automatically during flight so crew time stays focused on piloting and safety.

After splashdown, scientists will analyze the chips with single-cell RNA sequencing, which measures gene activity cell by cell across thousands of genes at once.

A recent study found signs of accelerated aging in human blood forming stem cells after space exposure, which shows why this kind of readout matters.

NASA will compare the flight chips to ground samples taken from the same astronauts during a parallel study.

The side by side design makes it easier to spot space specific changes that are not just normal day to day variation.

Personalized care for future crews

“For NASA, organ chips could provide vital data for protecting astronaut health on deep space missions,” said Lisa Carnell, director of NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences division at NASA Headquarters.

If the data point to unique needs for one person, the medical kit can be tuned accordingly.

Matching countermeasures to each crew member is more efficient than packing a generic pharmacy. It also helps mission planners decide which risks are serious enough to change timelines or routes.

Real world implications

The same platform can speed up testing for cancer therapies and other treatments that affect blood.

Emulate’s bone marrow chip model shows how human blood cell production reacts to drugs or radiation, which can inform safer dosing.

Faster human relevant screening can reduce the need for animal models and help clinicians personalize care when patients respond differently to the same medicine.

Space research often circles back to clinics in this way, with tools built for exploration improving healthcare at home.

AVATAR, cells, and astronauts

The Artemis II chips will only fly for about 10 days, but they start a new habit, checking human biology in deep space, in real time, with the actual people who will go.

That habit is how you catch problems early rather than after symptoms show up.

It also builds a library of responses across different people. Patterns in that library can reveal shared risks and personal differences that matter for longer missions.

If the chips flag vulnerable pathways in bone marrow, NASA can test countermeasures on the ground and validate them on later flights. The same playbook can extend to other tissues like heart, lung, brain, and liver.

Longer chip cultures are on the horizon so scientists can watch slower processes, not just short trips. That opens the door to studying adaptation across weeks and months, which is where Mars missions live.

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