Replacement tissue-equivalent proportional counter for the International Space Station

The tissue-equivalent proportional counter (TEPC)-based dosemeters used on the International Space Station have exceeded their planned useful lives, and are scheduled to be replaced with the new units taking advantage of improved technology. The original TEPC detectors used cylindrical geometry with field tubes to achieve good energy resolution and minimum sensitivity to noise created by vibration. The inside diameter of these detectors is 5.1 cm. The new detectors developed for this application produce the resolution and vibration resistance of the cylindrical detector with the isotropic response and compact size of a spherical detector. The cathode structure consists of conductive tissue-equivalent plastic A-150 layers separated by thin polyethylene layers perpendicular to the anode. Each conductive layer is held at the electrical potential needed to produce uniform electric field strength along the anode wire, and thus the same gas gain for electrons produced in different portions of the spherical volume. The new design contains the whole preamplifier inside the vacuum chamber to reduce electronic noise. Also the vacuum chamber has a novel design with a 0.020-inch-thick aluminium wall to allow a total wall thickness of 0.5 g cm(-2), which is typical of the shielding provided by a space suit. This feature will allow measuring the dose on the astronauts' skin due to low-energy electrons and protons produced during solar events. The vacuum chamber has a new bayonet clamping system that reduces the total detector weight to less than half that of the old TEPC.