Space agency-specific standards for crew dose and risk assessment of ionising radiation exposures for the International Space Station

Z Med Phys. 2023 Jul 26:S0939-3889(23)00082-X. doi: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.06.005. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe Partner Agencies of the International Space Station (ISS) maintain separate career exposure limits and shared Flight Rules that control the ionising radiation exposures that crewmembers can experience due to ambient environments throughout their space missions. In low Earth orbit as well as further out in space, energetic ions referred to as galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) easily penetrate spacecraft and spacecraft contents and consequently are always present at low dose rates. Protons and electrons that are trapped in the Earth's geomagnetic field are encountered intermittently, and a rare energetic solar particle event (SPE) may expose crew to (mostly) energetic protons. Space radiation protection goals are to optimize radiation exposures to maintain deleterious late effects at known and acceptable levels and to prevent any early effects that might compromise crew health and mission success. The conventional radiation protection metric effective dose provides a basic framework for limiting exposures associated with human spaceflight and can be communicated to all stakeholders. Additional metrics and uncertainty analyses are required to understand more completely and to convey nuanced information about potential impacts to an individual astronaut or to a space mission. Missions to remote destinations well beyond low Earth orbit (BLEO) are upcoming and bestow ad...
Source: Zeitschrift fur Medizinische Physik - Category: Radiology Authors: Source Type: research