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Related Experiment Videos

Radiation issues for piloted Mars mission.

G D Badhwar1, D S Nachtwey, Yang TC-H

  • 1Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058.

Advances in Space Research : the Official Journal of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)
|January 1, 1992
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Space radiation poses significant risks for Mars missions. Current risk assessment methods, like absorbed dose and quality factors, may be inadequate for evaluating the impact of heavy ions and target fragments on astronauts. New strategies are needed for accurate space radiation risk estimation.

Area of Science:

  • Space exploration
  • Radiation biology
  • Astrobiology

Background:

  • Human missions to Mars involve exposure to various radiation types, including trapped protons/electrons and galactic cosmic rays.
  • Acute exposure to solar particle events presents an additional risk.
  • Current radiation risk assessment relies on absorbed dose and quality factors (ICRP-26).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate the adequacy of current radiation risk assessment methods for long-duration space missions.
  • To highlight the need for biologically relevant data on heavy ion and target fragment effects.
  • To propose a shift towards fluence-based risk estimation strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Calculated dose equivalent for a 406-day Mars mission in a spacecraft with aluminum shielding (2 g cm-2) at solar minimum.
Keywords:
NASA Center JSCNASA Discipline Number 04-10NASA Discipline Radiation HealthNASA Program Radiation HealthNon-NASA Center

Related Experiment Videos

  • Estimated excess cancer mortality based on current risk assessment models.
  • Analyzed the contribution of HZE particles and target fragments to the total dose equivalent.

    • Main Results:

    • A 406-day Mars mission resulted in a calculated dose equivalent of 0.73 Sv.
    • This dose equivalent suggests an excess cancer mortality of approximately 1% for a 35-year-old male.
    • HZE particles and target fragments accounted for about 75% of the dose equivalent, with high quality factors (10.3 and 20, respectively).

    Conclusions:

    • Current concepts of absorbed dose, quality factor, and dose equivalent may not accurately reflect space radiation risks.
    • Less than 50% of astronaut nuclei would be traversed by a single galactic cosmic ray during a 406-day mission.
    • Developing biologically relevant data and fluence-based risk estimation is crucial for long-term space stays.