Abstract NASA is concerned with protecting astronauts from the effects of galactic cosmic radiation and has expended substantial effort in the development of computer models to predict the shielding obtained from various materials. However, these models were only developed for shields up to about 120g/cm2 in mass thickness and have predicted that shields of this mass thickness are insufficient to provide adequate protection for extended deep space flights. Consequently, effort is underway to extend the range of these models to thicker shields and experimental data is required to help confirm the resulting code. In this paper empirically obtained effective dose measurements from aircraft flights in the atmosphere are used to obtain the radiation shielding function of the Earth's atmosphere, a very thick, i.e. high mass, shield. Obtaining this result required solving an inverse problem and the method for solving it is presented. The results are shown to be in agreement with current code in the ranges where they overlap. These results are then checked and used to predict the radiation dosage under thick shields such as planetary regolith and the atmosphere of Venus.
Highlights The galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) shielding of the Earth's atmosphere is derived. Solving an inverse problem allows measured data to yield this shielding function. This thick GCR radiation shielding function can refine theoretical models. This thick GCR radiation shielding function can be applied to other materials. The GCR shielding supplied by regolith or the Venusian atmosphere is estimated.
Thick galactic cosmic radiation shielding using atmospheric data
Acta Astronautica ; 94 , 1 ; 132-138
2013-08-16
7 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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