Open AccessRadiation shielding aspects for long manned mission to space: Criteria, survey study, and preliminary model
Author(s) -
Manuel Sztejnberg,
Shaoping Xiao,
Nader Satvat,
Felisa Limón,
Tatjana Jevremović
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
nuclear technology and radiation protection
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.31
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1452-8185
pISSN - 1451-3994
DOI - 10.2298/ntrp0602047s
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , crew , spacecraft , aeronautics , electromagnetic shielding , nasa deep space network , space exploration , nuclear power , deep space exploration , aerospace engineering , exploration of mars , radiation protection , environmental science , computer science , astrobiology , physics , engineering , electrical engineering , nuclear physics
The prospect of manned space missions outside Earth's orbit is limited by the travel time and shielding against cosmic radiation. The chemical rockets currently used in the space program have no hope of propelling a manned vehicle to a far away location such as Mars due to the enormous mass of fuel that would be required. The specific energy available from nuclear fuel is a factor of 106 higher than chemical fuel; it is therefore obvious that nuclear power production in space is a must. On the other hand, recent considerations to send a man to the Moon for a long stay would require a stable, secured and safe source of energy (there is hardly anything beyond nuclear power that would provide a useful and reliably safe sustainable supply of energy). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) anticipates that the mass of a shielding material required for long travel to Mars is the next major design driver. In 2006 NASA identified a need to assess and evaluate potential gaps in existing knowledge and understanding of the level and types of radiation critical to astronauts' health during the long travel to Mars and to start a comprehensive study related to the shielding design of a spacecraft finding the conditions for the mitigation of radiation components contributing to the doses beyond accepted limits. In order to reduce the overall space craft mass, NASA is looking for the novel, multi-purpose and multi-functional materials that will provide effective shielding of the crew and electronics on board. The Laboratory for Neutronics and Geometry Computation in the School of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University led by Prof. Tatjana Jevremović began in 2004 the analytical evaluations of different lightweight materials. The preliminary results of the design survey study are presented in this paper