Medical mitigation strategies for acute radiation exposure during spaceflight

The United States Government has recently refocused their space program on manned missions to the Moon by 2018 and later to Mars. While there are many potential risks associated with exploration-class missions, one of the most serious and unpredictable is the effect of acute space radiation exposure, and the space program must make every reasonable effort to mitigate this risk. The two cosmic sources of radiation that could impact a mission outside the Earth's magnetic field are solar particle events (SPE) and galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). Either can cause acute and chronic medical illness. Numerous researchers are currently examining the ability of GCR exposure to induce the development of genetic changes that lead to malignancies and other delayed effects. However, relatively little has been published on the medical management of an acute SPE event and the potential impact on the mission and crew. This review paper will provide the readers with medical management options for an acute radiation event based on recommendations from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and evidence-based critical analysis of the scientific literature. It is the goal of this paper to stimulate debate regarding the definition of safety parameters for exploration-class missions to determine the level of medical care necessary to provide for the crew that will undertake such missions.