A review and comparative analysis of the biological damage induced during space flight by HZE particles and space...

We have studied the somatic and genetic effects of heavy ions (HZE particles) and the very high energy hadrons of space radiation on various organisms ranging in complexity from bacteriophage to man. Experimental data were obtained in space, on high mountains and in a proton accelerator at energies of 76 GeV. In all these experiments local micro- and macroradiational damage was observed. This damage was characterized by severity over large local regions and for the most part was due to cascades of secondary particle bundles resulting from the collision of very high energy space hadrons with atomic nuclei rather than from cellular hits from relatively low energy single HZE particles. At present there does not appear to be any effective way to provide shielding against these cosmic hadrons.