Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
There are three fundamental ways to reduce exposure to ionizing radiation: [32] increasing the distance from the radiation source; reducing the exposure time; shielding (i.e.: a physical barrier) Shielding is a plausible option, but due to current launch mass restrictions, it is prohibitively costly.
Orion's orientation during flight affected radiation exposure, which dropped by half when the spacecraft made a 90-degree turn flying past the inner Van Allen belt.
Airline crews flying long-distance high-altitude routes can be exposed to 2.2 mSv of extra radiation each year due to cosmic rays, nearly doubling their total exposure to ionizing radiation. Average annual radiation exposure ( millisieverts )
G-616, formally known as GAS canister #G-616: The Effect of Cosmic Radiation on Static Computer Media & Plant Seeds Exposure to Microgravity was an experiment flown on the Space Shuttle as a self-contained experiment, as part of STS-40.
Once above the atmosphere, radiation due to the Van Allen belts, solar radiation and cosmic radiation issues occur and increase. Further away from the Earth, solar flares can give a fatal radiation dose in minutes, and the health threat from cosmic radiation significantly increases the chances of cancer over a decade exposure or more. [29]
Animal behavior studies indicate that high-HZE radiation has a high RBE, but the data are not consistent. Other uncertainties include: age at exposure, radiation quality, and dose-rate effects, as well as issues regarding genetic susceptibility to CNS risk from space radiation exposure. More research is required before CNS risk can be estimated.
Radiation has also recently been linked to a higher incidence of cataracts in astronauts. Outside the protection of low Earth orbit, galactic cosmic rays present further challenges to human spaceflight, [45] as the health threat from cosmic rays significantly increases the chances of cancer over a decade or more of exposure. [46]
Hypotheses include Cherenkov radiation created as the cosmic ray particles pass through the vitreous humour of the astronauts' eyes, [4] [5] direct interaction with the optic nerve, [4] direct interaction with visual centres in the brain, [6] retinal receptor stimulation, [7] and a more general interaction of the retina with radiation. [8]