CERN SpaceRadMon-NG technology installed on the International Space Station through partnership with Polish start-up
A radiation monitor built on CERN technology is now onboard and operating in the International Space Station (ISS) after being successfully installed in June 2025 by Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, who himself is employed at CERN.
The Polish company SigmaLabs, built the Scalable Radiation Monitor (SRM) and qualified the instrument for use onboard the ISS. The SRM is based on the SpaceRadMon-NG – a miniaturised and optimised version of a radiation monitor developed by CERN for use in the Large Hadron Collider.
The SpaceRadMon-NG has had successful flight experience obtained during previous missions such as CELESTA, a CERN-driven CubeSat launched in 2022 to validate the sensing performance of the technology in a harsh space radiation environment at 6000 km above Earth.
The SigmaLabs SRM device was developed to monitor, for a longer period, the lower radiation doses to which electronics equipment and astronauts are exposed inside the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory module of the ISS.
Since its installation in June 2025, the instrument has been fully operational, with data being collected and found to be consistent with the expected output.
“We are delighted to see that the SRM instrument operates reliably onboard the ISS. The data acquisition and communication functionalities work as expected. Ongoing tests of the radiation sensing capability of SpaceRadMon-NG are underway with new experimental data downloaded on a monthly basis and correlated with measurements from another radiation detector instrument and simulation models.” said Dr Krzysztof Sielewicz, CEO of SigmaLabs.
Experiments using the SRM onboard the ISS will continue until the end of Q1 2027.
Ax-4 Mission | Space Radiation Discussion. (Credit: Axiom Space)
Data collecting on the ISS
The main objective of the SRM is to monitor radiation levels onboard the ISS to assess the impact on electronic equipment. The sensors can track the Total Ionising Dose (TID) – meaning the cumulative dose of radiation from various sources (protons, electrons, heavy ions, etc.) – as well as radiation from a range of high-energy particles coming from the Van Allen radiation belt.
Batches of data are sent to SigmaLabs, and CERN’s Electronics Production and Radiation Tolerance (EPR) section is helping to analyse it. The team used the first batch of data to determine the status of the SRM, to make sure it was operating correctly.
“From the data acquired so far we can clearly see that the sensors are measuring as they should, and the payload is very healthy. We are in good shape,” said Salvatore Danzeca, EPR section lead.
Danzeca said that it was a “big achievement” for his team and the teams before at CERN who have worked on radiation monitors to see the technology onboard the ISS.
“It’s incredible to think that something you worked on, that was lying on your lab table, is now used for human spaceflight,” he said.
He is also glad to see the technology being used by a start-up. “Knowing that our tech can also support a promising start-up is an additional satisfaction,” he said.
CERN and SigmaLabs continuing collaboration
CERN and SigmaLabs are currently exploring further collaboration opportunities, as the SpaceRadMon-NG technology can help anticipate and possibly mitigate radiation induced failures on satellites in the future.
The technology has several technical advantages with respect to alternative solutions, including low power consumption, low weight, and easy interfacing with satellite platforms.
An important validation step would be the deployment of a SRM system outside the ISS.
The SRM was installed on the ISS as part of the IGNIS mission, the first ever crewed Polish technological and scientific mission to the ISS. The Polish IGNIS mission, supported by ESA, is part of the Axiom Mission 4, operated by Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX and NASA.
Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, a CERN engineer currently working for ESA, became the second Polish astronaut to fly on a human spaceflight mission.
“The initial idea of the SRM experiment for the ISS came from a discussion that I had with CERN’s Knowledge Transfer team and the Polish start-up SigmaLabs shortly after my selection as an astronaut” said Uznański-Wiśniewski, “I am very proud that it was successfully implemented by a promising Polish start-up and I hope this will pave the way to many other useful applications in the field of radiation monitoring and protection”.
CERN technical contact: Salvatore Danzeca.