NIH
US national medical research body partnering on Artemis II organ-on-chip experiments.
Last refreshed: 2 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
What medical research is happening aboard the Moon mission?
Latest on NIH
- What is NIH's role in Artemis II?
- NIH's NCATS division partners on the AVATAR organ-on-chip experiment, providing methodology expertise for studying deep-space radiation effects on crew tissue.Source: NASA AVATAR experiment overview
- What is NCATS?
- The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, a division of NIH focused on turning scientific discoveries into clinical treatments.Source: NIH NCATS overview
- How much does NIH spend on research?
- NIH has an annual budget of roughly $47 billion, making it the world's largest public funder of biomedical research.Source: NIH annual budget report
- What happens to the AVATAR data after the mission?
- NIH's data infrastructure is expected to make results available to the broader research community, feeding back into organ-chip and drug-testing research.Source: NASA AVATAR experiment overview
Background
NIH participates in the AVATAR Experiment through its National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), contributing organ-on-chip methodology expertise to the deep-space radiation study flying aboard Orion.
The National Institutes of Health is the primary US government medical research agency and the world's largest public funder of biomedical research, with an annual budget of roughly $47 billion. NCATS specifically focuses on translating scientific discoveries into clinical treatments, making organ-chip platforms a natural fit for its mandate.
NIH's participation connects Artemis II science to the broader organ-on-chip research programme. The same microfluidic technology flying in Orion is being developed for terrestrial drug testing and personalised medicine, meaning results from the Moon mission will feed directly back into mainstream biomedical research pipelines.