Real time quality factor and dose equivalent meter "CIRCE" and its use on-board the Soviet orbital station "MIR"

During the French-Soviet space mission "Aragatz," the experiment CIRCE (Compteur Integrateur de Rayonnement Complexe dans l'Espace) recorded the dose rate and quality factor values inside the MIR station. This paper presents results obtained with a new active dose equivalent meter based on microdosimetric techniques and using a low pressure tissue equivalent proportional counter. In terms of lineal energy CIRCE device works in the 0.2-1200 keV micrometer-1 range in tissue. Preliminary studies were performed in photon, neutron and heavy ion beams, and in the real stratosphere cosmic radiation field. Long term measurements on-board MIR station from December 1988 to April 1989 gave an average quality factor value equal to 1.9 +/- 0.3. Through the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), the quality factor was equal to 1.4. The temporal orbital variations of the dose rates and quality factors have been established in space dosimetry for the first time.