Computer aided radiation analysis for manned spacecraft

Abstract

In order to assist in the design of radiation shielding an analytical tool is presented that can be employed in combination with CAD facilities and NASA transport codes. The nature of radiation in space is described, and the operational requirements for protection are listed as background information for the use of the technique. The method is based on the Boeing radiation exposure model (BREM) for combining NASA radiation transport codes and CAD facilities, and the output is given as contour maps of the radiation-shield distribution so that dangerous areas can be identified. Computational models are used to solve the 1D Boltzmann transport equation and determine the shielding needs for the worst-case scenario. BREM can be employed directly with the radiation computations to assess radiation protection during all phases of design which saves time and ultimately spacecraft weight.