Radiation Shielding Evaluation of Spacecraft Walls Against Heavy Ions Using Microdosimetry

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 68; no. 5; pp. 897 - 905
• Main Authors: Peracchi, Stefania, James, Benjamin, Pagani, Federico, Pan, Vladimir, Vohradsky, James, Bolst, David, Prokopovich, Dale Anthony, Guatelli, Susanna, Petasecca, Marco, Lerch, Michael L. F., Lee, Sung Hyun, Inaniwa, Taku, Matsufuji, Naruhiro, Povoli, Marco, Kok, Angela, Jackson, Michael, Squire, Timothy, Rosenfeld, Anatoly B., Tran, Linh T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.05.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aircraft manufacture; Aluminum; Australia; Carbon fibers; Cosmic radiation; Cosmic rays; Extraterrestrial measurements; Extraterrestrial radiation; Fluence; Galactic cosmic rays; Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs); Heavy ions; International Space Station; International Space Station (ISS); Ions; Multilayers; Multinational space ventures; Q factors; Radiation; Radiation effects; Radiation protection; Radiation shielding; silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microdosimeter; Spacecraft; Spacecraft construction materials; Spacecraft modules; Spacecraft shielding
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2020.3032946

Despite the low contribution of heavy ions to the total fluence in the space radiation environment, their radiobiological effect on the human body is extremely high. In this article, we investigated the radiation field which resulted from the interaction of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), specifically some heavy ions and energies, typically encountered in space with a realistic multilayer sample of the International Space Station (ISS) Columbus module's shielding wall. The quality factor, Q, and the normalized dose equivalent, H, derived from microdosimetric measurements for C, Ne, and Si ions behind different spacecraft wall configurations and materials are presented in this article. Particularly, carbon fiber, polyoxymethylene, and perspex with same areal density compared to currently used aluminum were investigated.