The AstroRad uses a proprietary smart shielding design to selectively protect those organs and tissues which are most sensitive to radiation in terms of REID probability.

This approach provides the greatest biological impact of protection with the least amount of mass. Tissue weighting factors are assigned to organs and tissues in the body to reflect the variance in radiation sensitivity, with organs such as the lungs, bone marrow, colon, stomach, breasts and ovaries being among the most sensitive. Selective protection of these organs, and tissue-resident stem cell concentrations within them, was accomplished by designing variable shielding thickness to complement the body’s own shielding. This methodology results in an intriguing, functional topographic structure.

In July 2018, The Israel Space Agency, which is sponsoring StemRad’s space activity, signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin to launch the vest to the International Space Station (ISS) for advanced ergonomic studies in microgravity. This follows the signing of an agreement with NASA and the German Space Center (DLR) to study the AstroRad aboard NASA's Orion vehicle’s mission around the moon, the last test flight before NASA begins deep-space manned missions.

The Comfort and Human Factors AstroRad Radiation Garment Evaluation (CHARGE) study is currently ongoing aboard ISS to ensure that this personal protective equipment will be ready for operational use and will not interfere with astronaut’s day-to-day activities.