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.