A recent study worked to understand what kind of radiation hazards Mars-bound astronauts would face.
The team looked at data from the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) radiation detector, which has been taking readings since 2009, a University of New Hampshire news release reported.
"These data are a fundamental reference for the radiation hazards in near Earth 'geospace' out to Mars and other regions of our sun's vast heliosphere," CRaTER principal investigator Nathan Schwadron of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS) said.
Galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles can cause radiation that would endanger any nearby humans or satellites. The radiation can be extremely intrusive, and greatly increases the risk of cancer if it penetrates the skin.
Before CRaTER, researchers used something called "tissue-equivalent plastic" to look at outer-space radiation. The material acts as human muscle, to gauge how it would respond to certain radiation doses, but it was difficult to apply this system outside of Earth's atmosphere.
CRaTER has allowed researchers to effectively gather radiation data all the way into deep space; this information is extremely important for the future of space travel.
A forecasting tool called PREDICCS incorporates "numerical models of space radiation and a host of real-time measurements being made by satellites currently in space." The tool constantly monitors radiation conditions and takes safe radiation doses for humans into account. CRaTER will help make sure PREDICCS is able to accurately gauge radiation doses and conditions.
UNH created a detector dubbed DoSEN (Dose Spectra from Energetic Particles and Neutrons)
"DoSEN is an innovative concept that will lead to a new generation of radiation detectors, or dosimeters, to aid in understanding the hazards posed by the radiation environment of space," Schwadron said. "The ability to accurately understand these hazards will be critical to protect astronauts sent beyond low-Earth orbit on extended space missions."
"Understanding how different particles such as neutrons and heavy ions pose hazards will be extremely important in completely characterizing the types of environments we will operate in," Schwadron said. "For example, on the moon, there are additional hazards from neutrons that are created by high-energy radiation interacting in the lunar soil and radiating outward from the surface."
