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Automated Radiation Measurement for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS)

IM-2 · landed · commercial payload

A small real-time radiation monitor (Flight Module 11) with a total-ionizing-dose detector, flown inside Lonestar's Freedom payload. It was to record the radiation environment continuously from Earth's upper atmosphere through the Van Allen belts, deep space and lunar orbit to the South Pole surface.

PI: W. Kent Tobiska (Space Environment Technologies)
Built by: Space Environment Technologies (SET), Pacific Palisades, California; flown for SpaceBilt (Skycorp), Lonestar's prime contractor for Freedom (company)
Technology radiation monitor (dosimeter, space weather)
Moon Base need DN-012 L, #0307 (The study's reading. DN-012 L asks for long-term radiation measurements on the South Pole surface, and #0307 for radiation monitoring and forecasting. ARMAS on IM-2 measured only in cislunar transit, so it bears on #0307 and the transit environment, not yet on DN-012 L's surface record. FO's page links ARMAS to 'safety in space'; no NASA gap names it.)
Route onto CLPS commercial; No NASA selection. Skycorp/SpaceBilt, which built Freedom for Lonestar, was the customer for ARMAS and flew it under Lonestar's banner; Lonestar announced this in September 2024. Freedom rode on capacity Lonestar bought from Intuitive Machines.; 2024-09-17
Timeline first funding 2011 (NASA SBIR Phase I); first flight test about 2013 (aircraft, under the SBIR Phase II); first FO flight 2018 (balloon), first suborbital December 2019; selected 2024-09-17 (flight on Freedom announced); launch 2025-02-26; landing 2025-03-06
On the Moon partly operated
FO tested

Flights before the Moon

  • aircraft (not FO): Research and commercial aircraft (many flights, from about 2013), 2013 onward. Real-time dose monitoring at aviation altitudes, the original ARMAS purpose under the 2012 SBIR Phase II; SET's flight archive feeds NASA's radiation data portal, including flights during the September 2017 solar proton events.

"There are six ARMAS flights that occurred during Solar Proton events (SP-enhanced conditions)."
— NTRS 20205010460, Radiation Data Portal, AGU 2020

"ARMAS has built a legacy of radiation measurements during the past 12 years, extending from the atmosphere to the International Space Station and now to the Moon."
— SET successfully launches ARMAS lunar mission – Space Environment Technologies, SET release, 26 Feb 2025

  • FO: High-altitude balloon (ARMAS-Hi, FO project 89360, T0176), 2018 (FO's ARMAS page gives flight testing from 2018 to 2024 and the project ran April 2017 to February 2019; the balloon flight itself is not dated in public sources). Real-time COTS-based dose monitoring at high altitude, between aviation altitudes and space: the project's stated aim. No public source gives the flight's vehicle or result.

"This project will be the first demonstration of a real-time Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS)-based technology for ionizing-radiation dose assessment at high altitudes"
— TechPort project 89360, description

"2018 to 2024"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon, ARMAS, 'Flight Testing'

"High-Altitude Balloons and Suborbital Rocket"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon, ARMAS, 'Vehicle Platforms'

  • FO: Blue Origin New Shepard (suborbital rocket), ARMAS Suborbital (FO project 106693, T0221), 2019-12. Total ionizing dose from the surface to about 100 km, above the atmosphere.

"one of eight technologies on the December 2019 New Shepard flight (page 4)"
— FO annual report, FY2020, T0221 flight note (p. 7)

"This effort will capture the total ionizing dose (TID) from the surface to LEO in two suborbital flights."
— TechPort project 106693, description

  • FO: Blue Origin New Shepard, Van Horn, Texas (FO project 106693), 2020-10-13. The second suborbital flight of the same sensor. FO says the New Shepard flights readied ARMAS for measurements outside the ISS in 2022.

"one of nine technologies on this flight; page 4 gives the location as Van Horn, Texas"
— FO annual report, FY2021, T0221 flight note, 'Oct. 13, 2020' (p. 8)

"The Blue Origin flights helped ready ARMAS to provide radiation measurements from outside the International Space Station in 2022."
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

  • ISS or MISSE: International Space Station, outside (platform not named in these sources), 2022. ARMAS dose measurements in low Earth orbit, used by NASA Langley to validate its NAIRAS radiation model.

"we present the validation exercises that have been conducted using the Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) onboard the International Space Station (ISS)"
— NTRS 20230017653, NASA Langley AGU 2023 poster

  • FO: World View balloon GRYPHON29, Page, Arizona (ARMAS Dual Monitor, FO project 106715, T0232), 2023-08-16. Dose and gamma-ray monitoring at about 21 km; the flight was cut to about 11 hours by unfavorable winds.

"The launch occurred around 6:30 am local time in Page, Arizona on Wednesday August 16, 2023 and the flight reached an altitude of approximately 21 km."
— TechPort project 106715, description, flight summary

  • FO: World View long-duration balloon, Page, Arizona (FO project 106715), 2024-08-31 to 2024-09-27. Four weeks of continuous, real-time radiation monitoring at about 20 km via Iridium, five months before the lunar launch.

"Two payloads successfully flew a four-week test aboard a World View high-altitude balloon with support from NASA’s Flight Opportunities program."
— Flight Summaries - NASA, Aug. 31-Sept. 27, 2024

"including a month-long flight in 2024 where ARMAS performed radiation monitoring around the clock at aviation altitudes"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

Heritage hardware

  • instrument family: FM11 is one of a dozen generations of ARMAS flight modules, built on commercial dosimeter parts and developed with NASA support over about 15 years. It is the same instrument family, not new hardware.

"The ARMAS program was developed over the past decade and a half with NASA support through 11 generations of instruments"
— SET successfully launches ARMAS lunar mission – Space Environment Technologies, SET release, 26 Feb 2025 (Lonestar's September 2024 release says 12 generations)

Funding before the lunar flight

  • NASA SBIR Phase I, 'Automated Radiation Measurements for Aviation Safety (ARMAS)' (105320 / NNX11CH03P). Linked by title and PI. (NASA SBIR; 2011): $99,998

"The Automated Radiation Measurements for Aviation Safety (ARMAS) project will provide that validation in a cost-effective manner."
— SBIR.gov award data, award 105320, Phase I abstract; NNX11CH03P, award amount 99998.0

  • NASA SBIR Phase II, same title (105320 / NNX12CA78C): fly micro dosimeters on aircraft with real-time downlink. (NASA SBIR; 2012-2015): $774,936

"integrate, fly, and operate two micro dosimeters on aircraft"
— SBIR.gov award data, award 105320, Phase II abstract; NNX12CA78C, award amount 774936.0

  • NASA SBIR Phase I, 'ARMAS - Dual Monitor (ARMAS-DM)' (188082 / 80NSSC18P2111): long-duration balloon monitoring. (NASA SBIR; 2018-2019): $124,991

"Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety - Dual Monitor (ARMAS-DM)"
— SBIR.gov award data, award 188082, Phase I; 80NSSC18P2111, award amount 124991.0

  • NASA SBIR Phase II, ARMAS-DM (188082 / 80NSSC19C0194): an ARMAS FM5 and a gamma-ray detector on a World View Stratollite for two weeks or more. The FO balloon flights of 2023-2024 (project 106715) carried this work. (NASA SBIR; 2019-2021): $749,998

"ARMAS DM will use one World View Enterprises Stratollite balloon to host two radiation detection instruments."
— SBIR.gov award data, award 188082, Phase II abstract; 80NSSC19C0194, award amount 749998.0

  • NASA Center Innovation Fund support, named on FO's page. Amount and center not in public sources. (NASA Center Innovation Fund; not in public sources): amount not in public sources

"In addition to funding received from NASA’s SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program and Center Innovation Fund"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

How it got onto CLPS

"with the ARMAS sensor flying under Lonestar's banner to measure and analyze radiation levels throughout the mission"
— Skycorp’s ARMAS Sensor to Fly Aboard Lonestar Data Holding's Freedom Payload.

"Also on board is an ARMAS Radiation sensor being flown for SpaceBlt built by Environmental Technologies."
— Lonestar's Data Center is ready for the Moon: Intuitive Machines and Lonestar Complete Final Inst…

On the Moon

ARMAS FM11 worked in transit: SET reports about 32 hours of good radiation data between geosynchronous orbit and lunar orbit. With the lander on its side and dead within hours, there was no lunar surface record, which was the part of its goal that bears most on Moon Base. SET says the data were being analyzed; no results are published in these sources.

"SET’s ARMAS FM11 performed flawlessly between the Earth and Moon, collecting approximately 32 hours of excellent radiation data in the region between Earth’s geosynchronous orbit and lunar orbit"
— ARMAS FM11 collects extraterrestrial radiation data and lands on Moon – Space Environment Technol…, SET post, 6 Mar 2025

"During the IM-2 mission, the goal of the lightweight ARMAS sensor was to measure radiation both en route to the Moon and on the lunar surface"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

FO's role

Grade: tested. FO flew the ARMAS instrument family through every altitude below space and just above it: high-altitude and month-long balloons, and two New Shepard trips to about 100 km. In the team's words, testing with FO 'provided important lessons', the long balloon flight helped 'identify areas for refinement', and the New Shepard flights 'helped ready ARMAS' for the ISS in 2022. SET says FO helped bring ARMAS to TRL 9. The study's earlier traceback grade (FO-tested) stands. The FO flights served aviation and suborbital safety first; the lunar fit came later and is retroactive for the early flights. FO was not ARMAS's only flight route: aircraft and the ISS carried it too.

FO flights: 4. Four flights per FO's page (2018-2024); the reports name five, including the undated ARMAS-Hi flights, and the counts are not reconciled (the study's earlier lineage notes). FO's flight purchases can't be split per payload in public data: FO records.

"testing with Flight Opportunities provided important lessons to advance ARMAS’s development"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

"helped researchers both demonstrate the sensor’s capabilities and identify areas for refinement"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

"as it was matured through their flight program to achieve Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9"
— ARMAS FM11 collects extraterrestrial radiation data and lands on Moon – Space Environment Technol…, SET post, 6 Mar 2025

"Automated Radiation Measurement for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) from Space Environment Technologies monitored radiation"
— earlier finding of this study (not a public source)

Who built it

"ARMAS (developed by Space Environment Technologies of Pacific Palisades, California)"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon

"The ARMAS Flight Module 11 (FM11) instrument is part of Lonestar Data Holding’s (Lonestar) Freedom Payload developed in conjunction with SpaceBilt, Inc."
— SET successfully launches ARMAS lunar mission – Space Environment Technologies, SET release, 26 Feb 2025

"Skycorp, the prime contractor for Lonestar’s Freedom Payload, will also be a key customer for this mission"
— Skycorp’s ARMAS Sensor to Fly Aboard Lonestar Data Holding's Freedom Payload., 17 Sep 2024

Moon Base need

"Long-term radiation measurements at the South Pole surface"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-012 L: In situ lunar surface radiation environment measurements and space weather monitoring

"Monitors, dosimeters, models and observations to forecast solar particle events (SPEs)"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0307: Radiation Monitoring and Forecasting

Open questions

  • What did the 32 hours of IM-2 transit data show? SET says they were being analyzed; no results found.
  • Which ISS platform carried ARMAS in 2022, and who paid for it? Not in these sources.
  • The dates and vehicle of the ARMAS-Hi balloon flights (FO project 89360, 2017-2019): not in the FO reports used here (no FY2018 report).
  • Center Innovation Fund support for ARMAS: amount and center not in public sources.