Advanced Exploration Systems RadWorks - Radiation Protection Technologies
No abstract available
Neutron Radiation Detector↗
Engineering topics
Watts, John
Publications and source records attributed to Watts, John.
Scintillating Fiber Technology for a High Neutron Spectrometer
Develop a compact low-power neutron spectrometer that uniquely identifies neutrons in the mixed radiation field expected on crewed deep-space missions. Secondary neutrons are generated by cosmic rays striking heavy crewed spacecraft as well as lunar and planetary surfaces1,2. It has been shown that secondary neutrons can account for up to 50% if the total dose-equivalent received by the crew.
Kuznetsov, Evgeny↗
Advanced Neutron Spectrometer
Energetic neutron measurements remain a challenge for space science investigations and radiation monitoring for human exploration beyond LEO. We are investigating a new composite scintillator design that uses Li6 glass scintillator embedded in a PVT block. A comparison between Li6 and Boron 10 loaded scintillators are being studied to assess the advantages and shortcomings of these two techniques. We present the details of the new Li6 design and results from the comparison of the B10 and Li6 techniques during exposures in a mixed radiation field produced by high energy protons interacting in a target material.
Christl, Mark↗
A Radiation Dosimeter Concept for the Lunar Surface Environment
A novel silicon detector configuration for radiation dose measurements in an environment where solar energetic particles are of most concern is described. The dosimeter would also measure the dose from galactic cosmic rays. In the lunar environment a large range in particle flux and ionization density must be measured and converted to dose equivalent. This could be accomplished with a thick (e.g. 2mm) silicon detector segmented into cubic volume elements "voxels" followed by a second, thin monolithic silicon detector. The electronics needed to implement this detector concept include analog signal processors (ASIC) and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) for data accumulation and conversion to linear energy transfer (LET) spectra and to dose-equivalent (Sievert). Currently available commercial ASIC's and FPGA's are suitable for implementing the analog and digital systems.
Adams, James H.↗
Deep Space Test Bed for Radiation Studies
A key factor affecting the technical feasibility and cost of missions to Mars or the Moon is the need to protect the crew from ionizing radiation in space. Some analyses indicate that large amounts of spacecraft shielding may be necessary for crew safety. The shielding requirements are driven by the need to protect the crew from Galactic cosmic rays (GCR). Recent research activities aimed at enabling manned exploration have included shielding materials studies. A major goal of this research is to develop accurate radiation transport codes to calculate the shielding effectiveness of materials and to develop effective shielding strategies for spacecraft design. Validation of these models and calculations must be addressed in a relevant radiation environment to assure their technical readiness and accuracy. Test data obtained in the deep space radiation environment can provide definitive benchmarks and yield uncertainty estimates of the radiation transport codes. The two approaches presently used for code validation are ground based testing at particle accelerators and flight tests in high-inclination low-earth orbits provided by the shuttle, free-flyer platforms, or polar-orbiting satellites. These approaches have limitations in addressing all the radiation-shielding issues of deep space missions in both technical and practical areas. An approach based on long duration high altitude polar balloon flights provides exposure to the galactic cosmic ray composition and spectra encountered in deep space at a lower cost and with easier and more frequent access than afforded with spaceflight opportunities. This approach also results in shorter development times than spaceflight experiments, which is important for addressing changing program goals and requirements.
Adams, James H.↗
Imaging Calorimeter for ACCESS Simulations with GEANT/FLUKA
Imaging Calorimeter for ACCESS (ICA) is a candidate of the calorimeter for the NASA's ACCESS program to be flown on the International Space Station. The ICA studies the origin and acceleration mechanism of cosmic rays by measuring the elemental composition of the cosmic rays in the energy up to 10(exp 16) eV. For the past year, Monte Carlo simulation study for the ICA has been conducted using GEANT/FLUKA to predict the detector performance and to design the system for match the scientific objectives. Simulation results will be shown for the detector response and the energy resolution for various configurations.
Watts, John↗
Simulations of a Thin Sampling Calorimeter with GEANT/FLUKA
The Advanced Cosmic-ray Composition Experiment for the Space Station (ACCESS) will investigate the origin, composition and acceleration mechanism of cosmic rays by measuring the elemental composition of the cosmic rays up to 10(exp 15) eV. These measurements will be made with a thin ionization calorimeter and a transition radiation detector. This paper reports studies of a thin sampling calorimeter concept for the ACCESS thin ionization calorimeter. For the past year, a Monte Carlo simulation study of a Thin Sampling Calorimeter (TSC) design has been conducted to predict the detector performance and to design the system for achieving the ACCESS scientific objectives. Simulation results show that the detector energy resolution function resembles a Gaussian distribution and the energy resolution of TSC is about 40%. In addition, simulations of the detector's response to an assumed broken power law cosmic ray spectra in the region where the 'knee' of the cosmic ray spectrum occurs have been conducted and clearly show that a thin sampling calorimeter can provide sufficiently accurate estimates of the spectral parameters to meet the science requirements of ACCESS. n
Lee, Jeongin↗
Imaging Calorimeter for ACCESS Simulations with GEANT/FLUKA
Imaging Calorimeter for ACCESS (ICA) is a candidate of the calorimeter for the NASA's ACCESS program. The ICA studies the origin and acceleration mechanism of cosmic rays by measuring the elemental composition of the cosmic rays in the energy up to 10(exp 16) eV. For the past year, Monte Carlo simulation study for the ICA has been conducted to predict the detector performance and to design the system for match the scientific objectives. Simulation results show that the detector response resembles a Gaussian distribution and the energy resolution with ICA can be achieved about 40%. In addition, simulations of the detector's response to an assumed bent power law spectra in the region where the knee occurs have been conducted and clearly show that this detector can provide sufficiently accurate estimates of the spectral parameters that are a science goal of ACCESS.
Lee, Jeongin↗