Thermoluminescent dose measurements on-board Salyut type orbital stations

A small, vibration- and shock-resistant thermoluminescent dosemeter /TLD/ system--named PILLE--was developed at the Health Physics Department of the Central Research Institute for Physics, Budapest, to measure the cosmic radiation dose on board orbital stations. The first on-board measurements with this system were performed /by B. Farkas, the Hungarian astronaut/, on the Salyut-6 space station in 1980. The same instrument was used by other crews in the following years. Doses measured at different sites in Salyut-6 are presented. The dose rates varied from 0.07 to 0.11 mGy.day-1. After the first cosmic measurements, the system was further developed. The minimum detectable dose of the new TLD system is 1 microGy, i.e. less by on order of magnitude than that of the former system. The self-irradiation dose rate of the TLD bulbs is also reduced--by more than one order of magnitude--to 10 nGy.h-1, by the use of potassium-free glass for the bulb envelope. This new type of PILLE TLD system is currently on-board Salyut-7. The dose rates /0.12-0.23 mGy.day-1/ measured in 1983 are presented in detail.