Rapid assessment of radiobiological doses for terrestrial and interplanetary space missions

This paper presents the doses levels expected in orbits in chart form, covering the range 300-800 km of altitude and 0-90 degrees of inclination behind shieldings similar to the Hermes spacecraft and the EVA spacesuit matter distributions. These charts allow users to rapidly find the radiobiological dose received in the most critical organs of the human body either in normal situations or during a large solar event. Outside the magnetosphere, during interplanetary or lunar missions, when the dose received during crossing of the radiation belts become negligible, the dose is due to galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and solar flares. The correct radiobiological assessment of the components of this radiation field becomes a major problem. On the Moon a permanent ground-based station can be shielded by lunar materials against meteoroids and radiations. The radiobiological hazard, essentially linked to the solar flare risk during the transfer phase and the extra-station activities, may be solved by mission planning. For interplanetary flights the problem comes from both increased risk of solar events and from the continuous exposure to GCR. These energetic particles cannot be easily stopped by shieldings; cost considerations imply that more effective materials must be used. Impact on the vehicle design and the mission planning is important.     

Space radiation analysis: Radiation effects and particle interaction outside the Earth's magnetosphere using GRAS and GEANT4

In order to explore the Moon and Mars it is necessary to investigate the hazards due to the space environment and especially ionizing radiation. According to previous papers, much information has been presented in radiation analysis inside the Earth's magnetosphere, but much of this work was not directly relevant to the interplanetary medium. This work intends to explore the effect of radiation on humans inside structures such as the ISS and provide a detailed analysis of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar proton events (SPEs) using SPENVIS (Space Environment Effects and Information System) and CREME96 data files for particle flux outside the Earth's magnetosphere. The simulation was conducted using GRAS, a European Space Agency (ESA) software based on GEANT4. Dose and equivalent dose have been calculated as well as secondary particle effects and GCR energy spectrum. The calculated total dose effects and equivalent dose indicate the risk and effects that space radiation could have on the crew, these values are calculated using two different types of structures, the ISS and the TransHab modules. Final results indicate the amounts of radiation expected to be absorbed by the astronauts during long duration interplanetary flights; this denotes importance of radiation shielding and the use of proper materials to reduce the effects.     

Configuration studies for active electrostatic space radiation shielding

Developing successful and optimal solutions to mitigating the hazards of severe space radiation in deep space long duration missions is critical for the success of deep-space explorations. Space crews traveling aboard interplanetary spacecraft will be exposed to a constant flux of galactic cosmic rays (GCR), as well as intense fluxes of charged particles during solar particle events (SPEs). A recent report (Tripathi et al., Adv. Space Res. 42 (2008) 1043–1049), had explored the feasibility of using electrostatic shielding in concert with the state-of-the-art materials shielding technologies. Here we continue to extend the electrostatic shielding strategy and quantitatively examine a different configuration based on multiple toroidal rings. Our results show that SPE radiation can almost be eliminated by these electrostatic configurations. Also, penetration probabilities for novel structures such as toroidal rings are shown to be substantially reduced as compared to the simpler all-sphere geometries. More interestingly, the dimensions and aspect ratio of the toroidal rings could be altered and optimized to achieve an even higher degree of radiation protection.     

Resistance of bacterial endospores to outer space for planetary protection purposes--experiment PROTECT of the EXPOSE-E mission

Spore-forming bacteria are of particular concern in the context of planetary protection because their tough endospores may withstand certain sterilization procedures as well as the harsh environments of outer space or planetary surfaces. To test their hardiness on a hypothetical mission to Mars, spores of Bacillus subtilis 168 and Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 were exposed for 1.5 years to selected parameters of space in the experiment PROTECT during the EXPOSE-E mission on board the International Space Station. Mounted as dry layers on spacecraft-qualified aluminum coupons, the "trip to Mars" spores experienced space vacuum, cosmic and extraterrestrial solar radiation, and temperature fluctuations, whereas the "stay on Mars" spores were subjected to a simulated martian environment that included atmospheric pressure and composition, and UV and cosmic radiation. The survival of spores from both assays was determined after retrieval. It was clearly shown that solar extraterrestrial UV radiation (λ≥110?nm) as well as the martian UV spectrum (λ≥200?nm) was the most deleterious factor applied; in some samples only a few survivors were recovered from spores exposed in monolayers. Spores in multilayers survived better by several orders of magnitude. All other environmental parameters encountered by the "trip to Mars" or "stay on Mars" spores did little harm to the spores, which showed about 50% survival or more. The data demonstrate the high chance of survival of spores on a Mars mission, if protected against solar irradiation. These results will have implications for planetary protection considerations.     

Proposal for a new radiation dose control system for future manned space flights

Radiation risk on a future long-duration manned space mission appears to be one of the basic factors in planning and designing the mission. Since 1988 different active dosimetric investigations has been performed on board the MIR space station by the Bulgarian-Russian dosimeter-radiometer LIULIN and French tissue-equivalent proportional counters CIRCE and NAUSICAA. A joint French-Bulgarian-Russian dosimetry experiment and the dosimetry-radiometry system RADIUS-MD have been developed for the future MARS-96 mission. On the base of the results and experience of these investigations a conception for a new radiation dose control system for the future orbital stations, lunar bases and interplanetary space ships is proposed. The proposed system which consists of different instruments will allow personal radiation control for crew members, radiation monitoring inside and outside each habitat, analysis and forecasting of the situation and will suggest procedures to minimize the radiation risk.     

An exploration of the effectiveness of artificial mini-magnetospheres as a potential solar storm shelter for long term human space missions

If mankind is to explore the solar system beyond the confines of our Earth and Moon the problem of radiation protection must be addressed. Galactic cosmic rays and highly variable energetic solar particles are an ever-present hazard in interplanetary space.     

Probabilistic assessment of radiation risk for astronauts in space missions

Accurate estimations of the health risks to astronauts due to space radiation exposure are necessary for future lunar and Mars missions. Space radiation consists of solar particle events (SPEs), comprised largely of medium energy protons (less than several hundred MeV); and galactic cosmic rays (GCR), which include high-energy protons and heavy ions. While the frequency distribution of SPEs depends strongly upon the phase within the solar activity cycle, the individual SPE occurrences themselves are random in nature. A solar modulation model has been developed for the temporal characterization of the GCR environment, which is represented by the deceleration potential, ?. The risk of radiation exposure to astronauts as well as to hardware from SPEs during extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) or in lightly shielded vehicles is a major concern for radiation protection. To support the probabilistic risk assessment for EVAs, which could be up to 15% of crew time² on lunar missions, we estimated the probability of SPE occurrence as a function of solar cycle phase using a non-homogeneous Poisson model [1] to fit the historical database of measurements of protons with energy>30 MeV, Φ₃₀. The resultant organ doses and dose equivalents, as well as effective whole body doses, for acute and cancer risk estimations are analyzed for a conceptual habitat module and for a lunar rover during space missions of defined durations. This probabilistic approach to radiation risk assessment from SPE and GCR is in support of mission design and operational planning for future manned space exploration missions.     

行星际空间环境对探测器可靠性影响分析

空间环境是影响航天器可靠性的重要因素。与地球轨道航天器相比,行星际探测任务可能会遭受更加恶劣的空间环境,例如极端温度环境,辐射环境,腐蚀性大气环境、宇宙尘等,再加上行星际任务寿命长,采用先进的器件和材料,空间环境对行星际探测器的可靠性构成严重的威胁,直接关系到探测目标能否实现。因此考虑空间环境对行星际探测器的影响,开展相关的预先研究无论是对于制定行星际空间探测计划,还是搭载仪器的设计都具有非常重要的意义。文章分析了极端温度、辐射环境和行星表面综合环境对探测器的影响,并对开展相关研究提出了建议。     

Biomedical problems of EVA support during manned space flight to Mars

Current projects of manned missions to Mars are aimed to their realization in the second-third decades of this century. The purpose of this paper is to determine and review the main biomedical problems, that require a first and foremost decision for safety support of extravehicular activity (EVA) carried out by crewmembers of the Mars expedition. To a number of such problems the authors of the paper attribute a creation of adequate EVA equipment intended, first, for assembly of interplanetary spacecraft on the Earth orbit, performance of maintenance operations and scientific researches on the external surface of spacecraft during interplanetary flight and, secondly, for work on the Mars surface. New generation of space suits with low weight, high mobility and acceptable risk of decompression sickness must be as a central component of EVA equipment. The program for preparation to a Mars expedition also has to include special investigations in order to design the means and methods for a reliable protection of crew against space radiation, to elaborate the approach to medical monitoring and primary medical care during autonomous space mission, to maintain good health condition of crewmembers during EVA under the Mars gravity (0.38 g) after super long-term flight in weightlessness.     

模拟载人探月中航天员空间辐射风险评估

空间辐射是长期载人航天飞行任务中影响航天员健康的重要风险因素。为了探求载人探月过程中对空间辐射的合理防护方式,文章借助空间辐射场模型对"嫦娥三号"飞行任务在不同质量厚度材料屏蔽下的舱内空间辐射环境进行了仿真计算,并确定了航天员各器官接受的空间辐射剂量、剂量当量以及有效剂量等辐射防护量以进行辐射风险评估。结果表明,随着屏蔽厚度的增加,航天员的各组织或器官的吸收剂量和剂量当量以及有效剂量均明显降低;采用质量屏蔽的方法对低于100 Me V的质子具有很好的防护效果,但对高能质子或重离子的防护效果不明显。计算和分析显示,载人探月过程中,只要采取适当的防护措施,航天员的空间辐射风险是可控的。     

深空辐射环境对航天活动的危害及对策

深空辐射环境是影响深空探测任务的一个主要因素,它主要包括太阳粒子事件、银河宇宙射线、俘获辐射带和黑体表面辐射。文章分析了它对航天活动的危害,并探讨了相应的对策。     

典型再入返回器气动特性对比与改进研究

返回器气动特性研究对宇宙飞船的研制起着先导和制约作用。文章对Apollo、CEV和类Soyuz这3种典型的轴对称钝头体再入返回器气动布局进行了气动特性的对比分析,发现与Apollo、CEV相比,类Soyuz外形的升阻比偏小,无法满足以第二宇宙速度载人空间再入返回的要求。在此基础上研究了几何参数（包括倒锥角和球冠半径）变化对类Soyuz外形返回器气动性能的影响规律,从中得到类Soyuz外形的改进方向,提出了一种以类Soyuz外形为基础的改进设计外形,并对该外形的升阻特性、稳定性和配平特性等相关气动特性进行了分析。研究表明通过对几何外形参数的调整优化来提高类Soyuz外形的升阻比,从而达到以第二宇宙速度再入返回的升阻比要求,这样的技术途径是可行的。     

EXPOSE-E: an ESA astrobiology mission 1.5 years in space

The multi-user facility EXPOSE-E was designed by the European Space Agency to enable astrobiology research in space (low-Earth orbit). On 7 February 2008, EXPOSE-E was carried to the International Space Station (ISS) on the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF) platform in the cargo bay of Space Shuttle STS-122 Atlantis. The facility was installed at the starboard cone of the Columbus module by extravehicular activity, where it remained in space for 1.5 years. EXPOSE-E was returned to Earth with STS-128 Discovery on 12 September 2009 for subsequent sample analysis. EXPOSE-E provided accommodation in three exposure trays for a variety of astrobiological test samples that were exposed to selected space conditions: either to space vacuum, solar electromagnetic radiation at >110?nm and cosmic radiation (trays 1 and 3) or to simulated martian surface conditions (tray 2). Data on UV radiation, cosmic radiation, and temperature were measured every 10?s and downlinked by telemetry. A parallel mission ground reference (MGR) experiment was performed on ground with a parallel set of hardware and samples under simulated space conditions. EXPOSE-E performed a successful 1.5-year mission in space.     

Risks of radiation cataracts from interplanetary space missions

Recognition of the human risks from radiation exposure during manned missions in deep space has been fostered by international co-operation; interagency collaboration is facilitating their evaluation. Further co-operation can lead, perhaps by the end of this decade, to an evaluation of one of the three major risks, namely radiation cataractogenesis, sufficient for use in the planning of the manned mission to Mars.     

Local Radiation Belts of the Sun (Quasi-Stationary Coronal and Heliospheric Giant Traps for Solar Cosmic Rays)

The local radiation belts of the Sun are defined as giant quasi-stationary coronal and heliospheric traps for solar cosmic rays. These traps are formed by loop magnetic fields, both solar and interplanetary. Using observational data, some experimental examples of the local radiation belts of the Sun are considered. The hypotheses on the origin of energetic particles in the outer heliosphere and on the local radiation belts of the Sun are discussed.     

Using radiation risk for assessment of space radiation hazard

Radiation hazard caused by exposure during a spaceflight is characterized by radiobiological consequences at all levels of organism. These consequences have a stochastic nature. Even deterministic effects are basically random quantity having all attributes of such mathematical values. The radiation risk is defined in this case as an additional probability of health damage or as a death probability in extreme case. For the manned spaceflight additional peculiarity of a human’s exposure is added. A natural space radiation environment has a stochastic character because solar particle events and crew of a spacecraft can be exposed to dose from background level up to lethal one.The report presents a procedure of radiation risk assessment for quantitative expression of radiation hazard level during a flight and using this value for developing protection recommendations. It is emphasized that the risk value is connected specifically with the time interval of possible hazard’s existent. The form of risk representation must be chosen depending on a time scale of radiobiological processes induced by the exposure (expressing in fact the radiation hazard model). Surviving function specified for the crewmember mortality rate changed by the professional exposure must be used for risk calculation. Solar particle events determine a stochastic character of radiation environment in space that must be taken into account for a risk assessment. The reliability of radiation risk assessment can be used for this goal.     

Space weather forecast: Principles of the construction and boundaries of the implementation (experience of three cycles)

All significant short-term disturbances of the near-Earth space are caused exclusively by solar flare events and regions in the solar corona with the magnetic field open into the interplanetary space (coronal holes). Flare processes occur as a consequence of the interactions of new emerging magnetic fluxes within (flares) and outside (filament ejections) the active regions with already existing magnetic fields. The observation of emerging new magnetic fluxes and the estimate of their magnitude and the emerging rate allow one to forecast solar flares and filament ejections and estimate their degree of geoeffectiveness. The main agents that visualize the propagation of disturbance from solar flares and filaments in the solar corona and the interplanetary space are coronal mass ejections, the characteristics of which ideally allow one to estimate the possible disturbance of the geomagnetic field, the possible growth of high-energy charged particle fluxes in the near-Earth space. For successful forecast of geoeffective active phenomena on the Sun and their consequences in the near-Earth space, it is necessary to know the situation on the Sun for the last 3 days taking into account the development and characteristics of the current cycle and the epoch of solar activity.     

Ascending flows in the solar atmosphere and formation of the solar wind

Some morphological features of solar magnetic fields in the chromosphere and corona are considered based on studying various observational data. These data are compared to the results of observation of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field, as well as to the data on fluxes of solar cosmic rays. New specific features are found in the solar wind structure, and new additional indications of sources of the solar wind are obtained. The properties of the active regions and coronal holes are considered. A model of the ascending stream-like plasma flow is suggested. It flows around the discrete arched magnetic field tubes in the solar atmosphere and stretches them out into interplanetary space.     

空间高能质子对航天器材料损伤的仿真分析

近地空间是各种载人飞船、应用卫星、空间站的主要活动区域,区域内存在大量由地磁场捕获的高能带电粒子,严重影响航天器和航天员的安全。为此,需要对内辐射带低高度空间的高能带电粒子环境及其通量分布进行研究。如何对质子进行有效屏蔽对空间辐射防护有重要的研究意义。文章针对粒子在空间环境中的辐射,简要介绍了质子在空间环境中的分布情况及在物质中的传输问题。利用SRIM软件模拟质子在不同材料(铝、聚乙烯)中输运过程。根据得到的射程与能量关系及对阻止本领的分析,从理论上提出航天器防护的合理方案。     

Specific features of solar cosmic ray fluxes and geomagnetic conditions on December 5–18, 2006

Results of the analysis of specific features of solar activity, dynamics of solar cosmic ray fluxes, and state of the interplanetary medium are presented for the period December 5–18, 2006. The data analysis is based on new model concepts on coronal and interplanetary propagation of solar cosmic rays: partial capture into the magnetic field traps and oscillations at reflections from magnetic mirrors. Some new hypotheses about possible relations of the features of the interplanetary medium with processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere are put forward: the influence of the discrete interplanetary medium on processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere does exist always and, in this sense, it is a fundamental phenomenon; the discreteness of the inter-planetary medium can be one of the causes of geomagnetic substorms.