This paper provides an overview of the radiation aspects of manned space flight to Moon and Mars. The expected ionizing radiation dose for an astronaut is assessed along the Apollo 11 flight path to the Moon. With the two dose values, the expected and the measured total dose, the radiation shielding and the activity of the Sun are estimated. To judge the risk or safety margin the radiation effects on humans are opposed. The radiation from the Sun has to be set to zero in the computer model to achieve the published radiation dose value of the Apollo 11 flight. Galactic and cosmic particles have not been modelled either. The Apollo 11 astronauts must have been lucky that during their flight the Sun was totally quiet in the solar maximum year 1969 – and also their colleagues of the subsequent Apollo flights, i.e. until 1972, where the published dose values still require a quiet Sun. The here built mathematical model allows assessing the total dose of a journey to Mars by only changing the flight duration. Even if in the meantime much thicker and/or active radiation shielding is proposed the radiation risk of manned space flight to Moon and Mars remains still huge.
| Published in | International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science (Volume 8, Issue 3) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11 |
| Page(s) | 16-26 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Space Radiation, Van Allen Belt, Apollo 11
| [1] | Jon Rask et al, Space Faring - The Radiation Challenge, 2008, https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/284273main_Radiation_HS_Mod1.pdf. |
| [2] | SOURCES AND EFFECTS OF IONIZING RADIATION, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, UNSCEAR 2008 Report, http://www.unscear.org/docs/publications/2008/UNSCEAR_2008_Report_Vol.I.pdf. |
| [3] | SPENVIS, ESA's Space Environment Information System, https://www.spenvis.oma.be/. §3 & 4: year 1969 and „all switches set to Minimum“: AP-8 and AE-8 each on solar minimum; Emission of Solar Protons: ESP-PSYCHIC, Confidence level: 50% (minimum value), 4mm Alu sphere, Tissue. |
| [4] | Spacecraft Systems Engineering, by Peter W. Fortescue, John Stark, Graham Swinerd; Wiley 2004. |
| [5] | Tschernobyl und die Folgen der Reaktorkatastrophe http://www.klimaforschung.net/tschernobyl/. |
| [6] | ESA Space Environment: Radiation Environment https://web.archive.org/web/20130224063817/http://www.esa.int/TEC/Space_Environment/SEMEF3T4LZE_0.html. |
| [7] | ESA: Predicting The Radiation Risk to ESA’s Astronauts: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Columbus/Predicting_the_radiation_risk_to_ESA_s_astronauts. |
| [8] | British Geological Survey, Magnetic Poles http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/poles.html. |
| [9] | At the entrance in the lunar orbit on 19-Jul-1969, 17:22 UTC (=16-Jul-1969 13:32 + 75:50) [10] the position of the Moon was in ecliptic coordinates as follows: geocentric longitude: 174°, geocentric latitude: 0°; calculated with WinStars 2, http://www.winstars.net/. |
| [10] | Apollo 11 Mission Report, 1971 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19710015566.pdf. |
| [11] | Wissenswertes zum Strahlenschutz mit ionisierender Strahlung; https://web.archive.org/web/20130712034913/http://www.strahlentherapie.uni-bonn.de/strahlen_info.htm. |
| [12] | Apollo Flight Journal https://history.nasa.gov/afj/. |
| [13] | BIOMEDICAL RESULTS OF APOLLO https://history.nasa.gov/SP-368/contents.htm Chapter 3: RADIATION PROTECTION AND INSTRUMENTATION: https://history.nasa.gov/SP-368/s2ch3.htm. |
| [14] | Total Ionizing Dose http://holbert.faculty.asu.edu/eee560/tiondose.html. |
| [15] | Apollo 11 Command and Service Module (CSM), NSSDCA/COSPAR ID: 1969-059A, https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1969-059A. |
| [16] | Command Module https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/CSM06_Command_Module_Overview_pp39-52.pdf. |
| [17] | Mars Planning Frequently Asked Questions https://www.nasa.gov/offices/Marsplanning/faqs/. |
| [18] | Cesium Iodide Dosimeters, NSSDCA ID: 1966-073A-04, https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experimentDisplay.do?id=1966-073A-04. |
| [19] | J.W. Wilson et al., Radiation Analysis for the Human Lunar Return Mission, NASA Technical Paper 3662, 1997, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19970031679.pdf. |
| [20] | R. Battiston et. al, Active Radiation Shield for Space Exploration Missions (ARRSEM), 2011 https://arxiv.org/abs/1209.1907. |
| [21] | Jeffery C. Chancellor et al., Limitations in predicting the space radiation health risk for exploration astronauts, 2018, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-018-0043-2. |
| [22] | United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) Technical Training Center: Biological Effects of Radiation; https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/for-educators/09.pdf. |
APA Style
Andreas Märki. (2020). Radiation Analysis for Moon and Mars Missions. International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science, 8(3), 16-26. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11
ACS Style
Andreas Märki. Radiation Analysis for Moon and Mars Missions. Int. J. Astrophys. Space Sci. 2020, 8(3), 16-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11
AMA Style
Andreas Märki. Radiation Analysis for Moon and Mars Missions. Int J Astrophys Space Sci. 2020;8(3):16-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11,
author = {Andreas Märki},
title = {Radiation Analysis for Moon and Mars Missions},
journal = {International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science},
volume = {8},
number = {3},
pages = {16-26},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijass.20200803.11},
abstract = {This paper provides an overview of the radiation aspects of manned space flight to Moon and Mars. The expected ionizing radiation dose for an astronaut is assessed along the Apollo 11 flight path to the Moon. With the two dose values, the expected and the measured total dose, the radiation shielding and the activity of the Sun are estimated. To judge the risk or safety margin the radiation effects on humans are opposed. The radiation from the Sun has to be set to zero in the computer model to achieve the published radiation dose value of the Apollo 11 flight. Galactic and cosmic particles have not been modelled either. The Apollo 11 astronauts must have been lucky that during their flight the Sun was totally quiet in the solar maximum year 1969 – and also their colleagues of the subsequent Apollo flights, i.e. until 1972, where the published dose values still require a quiet Sun. The here built mathematical model allows assessing the total dose of a journey to Mars by only changing the flight duration. Even if in the meantime much thicker and/or active radiation shielding is proposed the radiation risk of manned space flight to Moon and Mars remains still huge.},
year = {2020}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Radiation Analysis for Moon and Mars Missions AU - Andreas Märki Y1 - 2020/11/04 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11 T2 - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science JF - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science JO - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science SP - 16 EP - 26 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2376-7022 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.11 AB - This paper provides an overview of the radiation aspects of manned space flight to Moon and Mars. The expected ionizing radiation dose for an astronaut is assessed along the Apollo 11 flight path to the Moon. With the two dose values, the expected and the measured total dose, the radiation shielding and the activity of the Sun are estimated. To judge the risk or safety margin the radiation effects on humans are opposed. The radiation from the Sun has to be set to zero in the computer model to achieve the published radiation dose value of the Apollo 11 flight. Galactic and cosmic particles have not been modelled either. The Apollo 11 astronauts must have been lucky that during their flight the Sun was totally quiet in the solar maximum year 1969 – and also their colleagues of the subsequent Apollo flights, i.e. until 1972, where the published dose values still require a quiet Sun. The here built mathematical model allows assessing the total dose of a journey to Mars by only changing the flight duration. Even if in the meantime much thicker and/or active radiation shielding is proposed the radiation risk of manned space flight to Moon and Mars remains still huge. VL - 8 IS - 3 ER -
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