Artemis II’s AVATAR and a Sungrazing Comet - Planetary Radio

Why It Matters

Avatar will provide the first personalized biological data from deep‑space travel, shaping health safeguards for future crewed missions, while the comet’s close solar pass offers a rare scientific observation opportunity.

Key Takeaways

• Artemis II will launch personalized organ‑chip “Avatar” experiments to study deep space.
• Bone‑marrow chips mimic astronaut immune response under radiation.
• Chips are perfused by Space Tango’s autonomous system aboard Orion.
• Data will enable individualized medical countermeasures for future crew.
• A newly discovered sungrazing comet will pass 162,000 km from Sun.

Summary

The episode of Planetary Radio focuses on NASA’s Artemis II mission, highlighting the Avatar organ‑chip experiment and the imminent passage of a sungrazing comet. It introduces Lisa Carnell, director of NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division, and astronomer Alan Mori discussing the comet.

Avatar consists of bone‑marrow organ chips derived from each astronaut’s blood via apheresis, placed in a USB‑size cartridge that will travel with the crew on the ten‑day lunar flyby. The chips experience the same microgravity and deep‑space radiation, allowing direct comparison with Earth‑based controls. Space Tango provides an autonomous perfusion system that maintains temperature, fluid flow, and power for the duration.

Carnell emphasized the experiment’s novelty, noting “this is the first time organ chips have flown beyond the Van Allen belts matched to individual crew members.” She described how bone‑marrow sensitivity reveals early immune changes, and Mori warned that the comet’s perihelion at 162,000 km could test observational capabilities if it survives.

Successful data will inform personalized countermeasures for radiation and immune suppression, a prerequisite for longer missions to Mars. Moreover, monitoring the comet offers insights into solar‑proximity dynamics, enriching both planetary science and public engagement.

Original Description

Artemis II is the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17, and riding alongside the crew is one of the most ambitious biology experiments ever sent to space. It's called AVATAR, short for A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response: tiny organ chips grown from the astronauts' own cells, flying the same trajectory around the Moon, exposed to the same deep-space radiation and microgravity as the crew themselves. Lisa Carnell, director of NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division, explains what this experiment could mean for the future of human exploration.

Then, Alain Maury, asteroid hunter and Planetary Society Shoemaker Near-Earth Object grant recipient, tells the story of how his MAPS survey in Chile's Atacama Desert spotted a faint, fuzzy object that turned out to be something extraordinary. C/2026 A1 (MAPS) is a sungrazing comet now falling toward the Sun on a path that will bring it within 162,000 kilometers (100,000 miles) of the solar surface on April 4th. If it survives that encounter, it could become one of the most spectacular comets in decades.

And finally, Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts joins us for What's Up, including how to spot the comet yourself, if it makes it through.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-avatar-and-sungrazer

See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.