A study of the radiation environment on board the Space Shuttle flight STS-57

Badhwar, G. D.; Atwell, William; Benton, E. V.; Frank, A.L.; Keegan, R.; Dudkin, V.E.; Karpov, O.N.; Potapov, Yu.V.; Akopova, A.B.; Magradze, N.V.; Melkumyan, L.V.; Rshtuni, Sh.B.

doi:10.1016/1350-4487(95)00007-2

Cited by 44 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…At a recent Houston workshop, it was concluded that the fraction of dose equivalent from neutrons for the ISS may lie between ∼30% and 50% depending on the assumed quality factor for the high-energy neutrons [8]. Studies during the 1990s continued to indicate that the majority of neutrons are generated as secondary radiation and that about half of the neutron dose equivalent comes from neutrons with energy > 15 MeV [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bubble detector characterization for space radiation

Green

Andrews²,

Bennett

et al. 2005

Acta Astronautica

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bubble detector characterization for space radiation

Green

Andrews²,

Bennett

et al. 2005

Acta Astronautica

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“…The y spectrum is used to determine the absorbed dose to tissue from the radiation incident upon the TEPC . By making the assumption that y is equal to the linear energy transfer (LET) of the radiation field, this same spectrum is used to approximate the LET spectrum of the incident radiation (Badhwar, Konradi, et al, 1994; Badhwar et al, 1995, 1996). This LET spectrum is then used to calculate absorbed dose, D, dose equivalent, H, and an average quality factor, Q, of the radiation in tissue (Johnson et al, 1993).…”

Section: Instrumentation and Experimental Facilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We performed a cross-calibration followed by measurement comparisons in four ground-based beamline experiments and seven aircraft flights. The two detectors were a TEPC, the community's "gold standard" for tissue-relevant radiation detection (Badhwar et al, 1992(Badhwar et al, , 1995, and a detector based on the Teledyne micro dosimeter chip called Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety Flight Module (ARMAS FM). In this study both of these radiation detectors were flown together onboard aircraft to perform measurements of the ambient radiation field while in flight.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beamline and Flight Comparisons of the ARMAS Flight Module With the Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter for Improving Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring Accuracy

et al. 2020

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Ionizing radiation at aircraft and commercial suborbital spaceflight altitudes is driven by space weather and is a health concern for crew and passengers. We compare the response functions of two radiation detectors that were exposed to four different ground-based laboratory radiation fields as well as flown alongside each other on aircraft. The detectors were a tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) and a Teledyne silicon micro dosimeter chip that was integrated into an Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety Flight Module (ARMAS FM). Both detectors were flown onboard commercial and research aircraft. In addition, both detectors were exposed neutrons at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, protons at Loma Linda University Medical Center, 56 Fe particles at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory, and also a gamma radiation source at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The response of each of these instruments as well as derived dosimetric quantities are compared for each radiation exposure and the ratio for converting ARMAS absorbed dose in silicon to an estimated absorbed dose in tissue is obtained. This process resulted in the first definitive calibration of the silicon-based detector like ARMAS to TEPC. In particular, with seven flights of both instruments together, the ARMAS-derived dose in tissue was then validated with the TEPC-measured dose in tissue and these results are reported. This work provides a method for significantly improving the accuracy of radiation measurements relevant to human tissue safety using a silicon detector that is easy to deploy and can report data in real time.

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“…In LEO orbit (such as on the International Space Station, ISS), the effective dose rates from GCR are lower than in deep space by a factor of about 2, due to the additional shielding from the Earth’s magnetic field, although this is dependent on the inclination and the altitude of the mission (Benton and Benton 2001 ; Reitz 2008 ; Semkova et al 2014 ). For more detailed information about the radiation environment and radiation dosimetry in LEO, the readers are referred to the literature (International Commission on Radiological Protection 2013 ; Badhwar et al 1992b , a , 1994 , 1995 , 1996 , 1992b , 1998 , 2002 ; Golightly et al 1994 ; Badhwar 1997 , 1999 , 2000 , 2002 ; Badhwar and Cucinotta 1998 ; Doke et al 2001b , a ; Benton et al 2002 ; Akopova et al 2005 ; Bartlett et al 2006 ; Zhou et al 2007 ; Cucinotta et al 2008 ; Berger 2008 ; Reitz et al 2009 ; Straube et al 2010 ; Narici et al 2015 ; Dachev et al 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space radiation quality factor for Galactic Cosmic Rays and typical space mission scenarios using a microdosimetric approach

Papadopoulos

Kyriakou

Incerti

et al. 2023

Radiat Environ Biophys

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Space radiation exposure from omnipresent Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) in interplanetary space poses a serious carcinogenic risk to astronauts due to the—limited or absent—protective effect of the Earth’s magnetosphere and, in particular, the terrestrial atmosphere. The radiation risk is directly influenced by the quality of the radiation, i.e., its pattern of energy deposition at the micron/DNA scale. For stochastic biological effects, radiation quality is described by the quality factor, $$Q$$ Q , which can be defined as a function of Linear Energy Transfer (LET) or the microdosimetric lineal energy ($$y$$ y ). In the present work, the average $$Q$$ Q of GCR for different mission scenarios was calculated using a modified version of the microdosimetric Theory of Dual Radiation Action (TDRA). NASA’s OLTARIS platform was utilized to generate the radiation environment behind different aluminum shielding (0–30 g/cm2) for a typical mission scenario in low-earth orbit (LEO) and in deep space. The microdosimetric lineal energy spectra of ions ($$Z\ge 1$$ Z ≥ 1 ) in 1 μm liquid water spheres were calculated by a generalized analytical model which considers energy-loss fluctuations and δ-ray transport inside the irradiated medium. The present TDRA-based $$Q$$ Q -values for the LEO and deep space missions were found to differ by up to 10% and 14% from the corresponding ICRP-based $$Q$$ Q -values and up to 3% and 6% from NASA’s $$Q$$ Q -model. In addition, they were found to be in good agreement with the $$Q$$ Q -values measured in the International Space Station (ISS) and by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) which represent, respectively, a LEO and deep space orbit.

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A study of the radiation environment on board the Space Shuttle flight STS-57

Cited by 44 publications

References 11 publications

Bubble detector characterization for space radiation

Bubble detector characterization for space radiation

Beamline and Flight Comparisons of the ARMAS Flight Module With the Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter for Improving Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring Accuracy

Space radiation quality factor for Galactic Cosmic Rays and typical space mission scenarios using a microdosimetric approach

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