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Space radiation effects on composite matrix materials - Analytical approaches

In-vacuo ultraviolet and gamma radiation exposure tests are utilized in a study aimed at the identification of radiation damage mechanisms in composite materials, with the objective of predicting the long-term behavior of composite structures in a space environment at geosynchronous orbit. Physical and chemical methods of polymer characterization are utilized for the study of composite matrix degradation, in conjunction with GC/MS techniques for the analysis of volatile by-products.

Giori, C.↗

Total-dose radiation effects data for semiconductor devices. 1985 supplement. Volume 2, part A

Steady-state, total-dose radiation test data, are provided in graphic format for use by electronic designers and other personnel using semiconductor devices in a radiation environment. The data were generated by JPL for various NASA space programs. This volume provides data on integrated circuits. The data are presented in graphic, tabular, and/or narrative format, depending on the complexity of the integrated circuit. Most tests were done using the JPL or Boeing electron accelerator (Dynamitron) which provides a steady-state 2.5 MeV electron beam. However, some radiation exposures were made with a Cobalt-60 gamma ray source, the results of which should be regarded as only an approximate measure of the radiation damage that would be incurred by an equivalent electron dose.

Martin, K. E.↗

Ground-Laboratory to In-Space Effective Atomic-Oxygen Fluence Determined for DC 93-500 Silicone

Surfaces on the leading edge of spacecraft in low Earth orbit (e.g., surface facing the velocity direction), such as on the International Space Station, are subject to atomic oxygen attack, and certain materials are susceptible to erosion. Therefore, ground-based laboratory testing of the atomic oxygen durability of spacecraft materials is necessary for durability assessment when flight data are not available. For accurate space simulation, the facility is commonly calibrated on the basis of the mass loss of Kapton (DuPont, Wilmington, DE) as a control sample for effective fluence determination. This is because Kapton has a well-characterized atomic oxygen erosion yield (E(sub y), in cubic centimeters per atom) in the low Earth orbit (LEO) environment. Silicones, a family of commonly used spacecraft materials, do not chemically erode away with atomic oxygen attack like other organic materials that have volatile oxidation products. Instead, silicones react with atomic oxygen and form an oxidized hardened silicate surface layer. Often the loss of methyl groups causes shrinkage of the surface skin and "mud-tile" crazing degradation. But silicones often do not lose mass, and some silicones actually gain mass during atomic oxygen exposure. Therefore, the effective atomic oxygen fluence for silicones in a ground-test facility should not be determined on the basis of traditional mass-loss measurements, as it is with polymers that erode. Another method for determining effective fluence needs to be employed for silicones. A new technique has been developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center for determining the effective atomic oxygen fluence for silicones in ground-test facilities. This technique determines the equivalent amount of atomic oxygen oxidation on the basis of changes in the surface-oxide hardness. The specific approach developed was to compare changes in the surface hardness of ground-laboratory-exposed DC93-500 silicone with DC93-500 exposed to LEO atomic oxygen as part of a shuttle flight experiment. The on-the-ground to in-space effective atomic oxygen fluence was determined on the basis of the Kapton effective fluence in the ground-laboratory facility that produced the same hardness for the fluence in space.

deGroh, Kim K.↗

Improving Efficacy and Safety of Pharmacological Treatment Through Precision Health and Pharmacogenomics

INTRODUCTION: Future spaceflight will require increased crew medical autonomy as exploration class missions expand in duration and distance from Earth, especially for Mars missions. As mission duration increases, it will be essential to have appropriate amounts of effective medication to ensure the maintenance of crew health and performance. Conversely, mass and volume constraints will become more severe as future spaceflight expands beyond low Earth orbit, where resupply is difficult or becomes impossible. These constraints thus convey an urgency to tailor medications for individual crewmembers and further examine appropriate dosing regimens. BACKGROUND: Precision Health is an exciting area of medicine focused on maintaining an individual’s health and performance through in-depth understanding of an individual’s unique clinical and environmental history, genetic makeup, and molecular profiles. This approach can be adapted to better predict, monitor, and address physiological responses to the spaceflight environment. A subset of this field is pharmacogenomics (PGX), the study of how the expressed genome impacts drug responses with the goal of prescribing the right dose of the right drug at the right time. Specifically, PGX testing provides valuable information on an individual’s precise allelic variations to guide physicians in making informed decisions on drug choice and dosing to avoid adverse events and maximize efficacy. The study goal was to identify which current space pharmacy drugs could be evaluated using PGX testing and to understand the potential impact on the health and wellness of the astronaut population. Additionally, we sought to evaluate clinically available FDA-approved PGX testing solutions to better understand its applicability. METHODS: A complete list of drugs on the ISS was analyzed for risk and likelihood of drug failure and PGX actionability. This analysis encompassed both astronauts’ personal medications, including supplements and over the counter drugs (n=151) contained in the ISS medical accessory kit (IMAK), and ISS MedKit formulary medications (n=95). Duplicate medications and different formulations were removed, which resulted in a total of 157 drugs used in the subsequent analysis. A 5x5 risk assessment table was produced by examining the likelihood of drug failure compared to the consequence of drug failure (LxC). Likelihood of individual drug failure was defined by whether existing processes are sufficient to prevent ineffective treatment or impactful side effect events, as ranked from 1 (very low, can easily be prevented) to 5 (very high, cannot be prevented) during a Mars mission. In contrast, the consequence of drug failure was defined by impact to safety, schedule, cost, or technical criteria and ranked from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). An assessment of PGX reference laboratories is currently underway to evaluate sample requirements, benefit analysis (cost vs. utility of allele variant analysis), relevance to inflight medication usage, quality of reporting in enabling clinical application, and ease of integration into electronic medical records. RESULTS: Risk assessments (LxC 5x5 table) indicated 128 medications were in the green zone where risk is acceptable, with the remaining 29 of the medications in the yellow or red zone driven predominantly due to drug failure or safety concerns. We found that current PGX testing results could impact 21% of the total medications in the ISS MedKit and IMAK; of these, 9 medications currently have direct clinically actionable guidance available. Results of the clinical PGX solution evaluations as related to these medications will be presented. CONCLUSION: PGX testing has demonstrated clear benefits in terrestrial medicine and clinical environments for the selection of proper medications, avoiding adverse drug reactions, and maximizing drug efficacy. We propose that similar benefits would be bestowed on the astronaut and commercial spaceflight passenger population by performing preemptive preflight PGX testing to reduce risk of mission failure due to ineffective or toxic medications, improve drug efficacy, and further open the door to countermeasure research. For example, PGX results could allow tailoring of specific medications at optimal doses more precisely to each individual astronaut, particularly in areas of space motion sickness, sleep aids, and analgesics. An additional benefit is that PGX results could provide information for better planning of the components of a space pharmacy for deep space missions to be more effective and efficient in the utilization of limited pharmaceutical resources. Finally, while PGX testing of the astronaut corps is not currently conducted, this approach could provide immediate impact in support of mission success by reducing risks, optimizing astronaut performance, and providing valuable insights into long-term astronaut health. Such advancements in clinical decision making are important next steps in building dynamic individual risk profiles for astronauts, increasing selection of the best treatment choice, and providing tailored countermeasures for individual crewmembers.

Pharmacogenomics↗

Effects of Heat Flux, Oxygen Concentration and Glass Fiber Volume Fraction on Pyrolysate Mass Flux from Composite Solids

Experimental work on the effects of heat flux, oxygen concentration and glass fiber volume fraction on pyrolysate mass flux from samples of polypropylene/glass fiber composite (PP/G) is underway. The research is conducted as part of a larger project to develop a test methodology for flammability of materials, particularly composites, in the microgravity and variable oxygen concentration environment of spacecraft and space structures. Samples of PP/G sized at 30 x 30 x 10 mm are flush mounted in a flow tunnel, which provides a flow of oxidizer over the surface of the samples at a fixed value of 1 m/s and oxygen concentrations varying between 18 and 30%. Each sample is exposed to a constant external radiant heat flux at a given value, which varies between tests from 10 to 24 kW/sq m. Continuous sample mass loss and surface temperature measurements are recorded for each test. Some tests are conducted with an igniter and some are not. In the former case, the research goal is to quantify the critical mass flux at ignition for the various environmental and material conditions described above. The later case generates a wider range of mass flux rates than those seen prior to ignition, providing an opportunity to examine the protective effects of blowing on oxidative pyrolysis and heating of the surface. Graphs of surface temperature and sample mass loss vs. time for samples of 30% PPG at oxygen concentrations of 18 and 21% are presented in the figures below. These figures give a clear indication of the lower pyrolysis rate and extended time to ignition that accompany a lower oxygen concentration. Analysis of the mass flux rate at the time of ignition gives good repeatability but requires further work to provide a clear indication of mass flux trends accompanying changes in environmental and material properties.

Rich, D. B.↗

The Near-Earth Orbital Debris Problem and the Challenges for Environment Remediation

The near-Earth space environment has been gradually polluted with orbital debris (OD) since the beginning of space activities 55 years ago. Although this problem has been known to the research community for decades, the public was, in general, unaware of the issue until the anti-satellite test conducted by China in 2007 and the collision between Cosmos 2251 and the operational Iridium 33 in 2009. The latter also underlined the potential of an ongoing collision cascade effect (the "Kessler Syndrome") in the low Earth orbit (LEO, the region below 2000 km altitude). Recent modeling results have indicated that mitigation measures commonly adopted by the international space community will be insufficient to stabilize the LEO debris population. To better limit the OD population increase, more aggressive actions must be considered. There are three options for OD environment remediation-removal of large/massive intact objects to address the root cause of the OD population growth problem, removal of ~5-mm-to-1 cm debris to mitigate the main mission-ending threats for the majority of operational spacecraft, and prevention of major debris-generating collisions as a temporary means to slow down the OD population increase. The technology, engineering, and cost challenges to carry out any of these three options are monumental. It will require innovative ideas, game-changing technologies, and major collaborations at the international level to address the OD problem and preserve the near-Earth environment for future generations.

Liou, Jer-Chyi↗

Laminar Diffusion Flame Studies (Ground- and Space-Based Studies)

Laminar diffusion flames are of interest because they provide model flame systems that are far more tractable for analysis and experiments than more practical turbulent diffusion flames. Certainly, understanding flame processes within laminar diffusion flames must precede understanding these processes in more complex turbulent diffusion flames. In addition, many properties of laminar diffusion flames are directly relevant to turbulent diffusion flames using laminar flamelet concepts. Laminar jet diffusion flame shapes (luminous flame boundaries) have been of particular interest since the classical study of Burke and Schumann because they are a simple nonintrusive measurement that is convenient for evaluating flame structure predictions. Thus, consideration of laminar flame shapes is undertaken in the following, emphasizing conditions where effects of gravity are small, due to the importance of such conditions to practical applications. Another class of interesting properties of laminar diffusion flames are their laminar soot and smoke point properties (i.e., the flame length, fuel flow rate, characteristic residence time, etc., at the onset of soot appearance in the flame (the soot point) and the onset of soot emissions from the flame (the smoke point)). These are useful observable soot properties of nonpremixed flames because they provide a convenient means to rate several aspects of flame sooting properties: the relative propensity of various fuels to produce soot in flames; the relative effects of fuel structure, fuel dilution, flame temperature and ambient pressure on the soot appearance and emission properties of flames; the relative levels of continuum radiation from soot in flames; and effects of the intrusion of gravity (or buoyant motion) on emissions of soot from flames. An important motivation to define conditions for soot emissions is that observations of laminar jet diffusion flames in critical environments, e.g., space shuttle and space station facilities, cannot involve soot emitting flames in order to ensure that test chamber windows used for experimental observations are not blocked by soot deposits, thereby compromising unusually valuable experimental results. Another important motivation to define conditions where soot is present in diffusion flames is that flame chemistry, transport and radiation properties are vastly simplified when soot is absent, making such flames far more tractable for detailed numerical simulations than corresponding soot-containing flames. Motivated by these observations, the objectives of this phase of the investigation were as follows: (1) Observe flame-sheet shapes (the location of the reaction zone near phi=1) of nonluminous (soot free) laminar jet diffusion flames in both still and coflowing air and use these results to develop simplified models of flame-sheet shapes for these conditions; (2) Observe luminous flame boundaries of luminous (soot-containing) laminar jet diffusion flames in both still and coflowing air and use these results to develop simplified models of luminous flame boundaries for these conditions. In order to fix ideas here, maximum luminous flame boundaries at the laminar smoke point conditions were sought, i.e., luminous flame boundaries at the laminar smoke point; (3) Observe effects of coflow on laminar soot- and smoke-point conditions because coflow has been proposed as a means to control soot emissions and minimize the presence of soot in diffusion flames.

Dai, Z.↗

Modification of a very large thermal-vacuum test chamber for ionosphere and plasmasphere simulation

No large-volume chamber existed which could simulate the ion and electron environment of near-earth space. A very large thermal-vacuum chamber was modified to provide for the manipulation of the test volume magnetic field and for the generation and monitoring of plasma. Plasma densities of 1 million particles per cu cm were generated in the chamber where a variable magnetic flux density of up to 0.00015 T (1.5 gauss) was produced. Plasma temperature, density, composition, and visual effects were monitored, and plasma containment and control were investigated. Initial operation of the modified chamber demonstrated a capability satisfactory for a wide variety of experiments and hardware tests which require an interaction with the plasma environment. Potential for improving the quality of the simulation exists.

Pearson, O. L.↗

Noise in laser oscillator systems

The aim of the SUNLITE program is to demonstrate the performance of ultra-stable laser systems in the environment of space. The program uses Non-Planar Ring Oscillators (NPRO) which have shown great promise for time and frequency standards with unprecedented resolution and stability. An immediate goal is to test NPRO oscillators in orbital free fall by 1994. During the past year there was remarkable progress in the design and pre-flight testing of the SUNLITE test package. Current theoretical studies are investigating the possible effects of various noise sources on the linewidth and linecenter frequency stability of servocontrolled NPRO lasers. The frequency control system is reviewed and the potential impact on frequency stability of noise sources in the control system and in the environment is considered.

Hafele, Joseph C.↗

Liquid droplet radiator development status

Development of the Liquid Droplet Radiator (LDR) is described. Significant published results of previous investigators are presented, and work currently in progress is discussed. Several proposed LDR configurations are described, and the rectangular and triangular configurations currently of most interest are examined. Development of the droplet generator, collector, and auxiliary components are discussed. Radiative performance of a droplet sheet is considered, and experimental results are seen to be in very good agreement with analytical predictions. The collision of droplets in the droplet sheet, the charging of droplets by the space plasma, and the effect of atmospheric drag on the droplet sheet are shown to be of little consequence, or can be minimized by proper design. The LDR is seen to be less susceptible than conventional technology to the effects of micrometeoroids or hostile threats. The identification of working fluids which are stable in the orbital environments of interest is also made. Methods for reducing spacecraft contamination from an LDR to an acceptable level are discussed. Preliminary results of microgravity testing of the droplet generator are presented. Possible future NASA and Air Force missions enhanced or enabled by a LDR are also discussed. System studies indicate that the LDR is potentially less massive than heat pipe radiators. Planned microgravity testing aboard the Shuttle or space station is seen to be a logical next step in LDR development.

White, K. Alan, III↗

Liquid droplet radiator development status

Development of the Liquid Droplet Radiator (LDR) is described. Significant published results of previous investigators are presented, and work currently in progress is discussed. Several proposed LDR configurations are described, and the rectangular and triangular configurations currently of most interest are examined. Development of the droplet generator, collector, and auxiliary components are discussed. Radiative performance of a droplet sheet is considered, and experimental results are seen to be in very good agreement with analytical predictions. The collision of droplets in the droplet sheet, the charging of droplets by the space plasma, and the effect of atmospheric drag on the droplet sheet are shown to be of little consequence, or can be minimized by proper design. The LDR is seen to be less susceptible than conventional technology to the effects of micrometeoroids or hostile threats. The identification of working fluids which are stable in the orbital environments of interest is also made. Methods for reducing spacecraft contamination from an LDR to an acceptable level are discussed. Preliminary results of microgravity testing of the droplet generator are presented. Possible future NASA and Air Force missions enhanced or enabled by a LDR are also discussed. System studies indicate that the LDR is potentially less massive than heat pipe radiators. Planned microgravity testing aboard the Shuttle or space station is seen to be a logical next step in LDR development.

White, K. Alan, III↗

Environmental Effects on ISS Materials Aging (1998 to 2008)

The performance of ISS spacecraft materials and systems on prolonged exposure to the low- Earth orbit (LEO) space flight are reported in this paper. In-flight data, flight crew observations, and the results of ground-based test and analysis directly supporting programmatic and operational decision-making are described. The space flight environments definitions (both natural and induced) used for ISS design, material selection, and verification testing are shown, in most cases, to be more severe than the actual flight environment accounting, in part, for the outstanding performance of ISS as a long mission duration spacecraft. No significant ISS material or system failures have been attributed to spacecraft-environments interactions. Nonetheless, ISS materials and systems performance data is contributing to our understanding of spacecraft material interactions with the spaceflight environment so as to reduce cost and risk for future spaceflight projects and programs. Orbital inclination (51.6 deg) and altitude (nominally near 360 km) determine the set of natural environment factors affecting the functional life of materials and systems on ISS. ISS operates in an electrically conducting environment (the F2 region of Earth s ionosphere) with well-defined fluxes of atomic oxygen, other charged and neutral ionospheric plasma species, solar UV, VUV, and x-ray radiation as well as galactic cosmic rays, trapped radiation, and solar cosmic rays. The LEO micrometeoroid and orbital debris environment is an especially important determinant of spacecraft design and operations. The magnitude of several environmental factors varies dramatically with latitude and longitude as ISS orbits the Earth. The high latitude orbital environment also exposes ISS to higher fluences of trapped energetic electrons, auroral electrons, solar cosmic rays, and galactic cosmic rays than would be the case in lower inclination orbits, largely as a result of the overall shape and magnitude of the geomagnetic field. As a result, ISS exposure to many environmental factors can vary dramatically along a particular orbital ground track, and from one ground track to the next, during any 24-hour period. The induced environment results from ISS interactions with the natural environment as well as environmental factors produced by ISS itself and visiting vehicles fleet. Examples include ram-wake effects, hypergolic thruster plume impingement, materials out-gassing, venting and dumping of fluids, and specific photovoltaic (PV) power system interactions with the ionospheric plasma (7-11). Vehicle size (L) and velocity (V), combined with the magnitude and direction of the geomagnetic field (B) produce operationally significant magnetic induction voltages (VxB.L) in ISS conducting structure during flight through high latitudes (> +45deg) during each orbit. Finally, an induced ionizing radiation environment is produced by cosmic ray interaction with the relatively thick ISS structure and shielding materials. The intent of this review article is, therefore, to provide a summary of selected aspects and elements of the ISS vehicle with regard to LEO space environment effects, associated with the much larger and more complicated vehicle that ISS has become since 1998, but also with an eye towards performance life extension to the year 2016 and beyond.

Alred, John↗

Investigation of space shuttle vehicle 140C configuration orbiter (model 16-0) wheel well pressure loads in the Rockwell International 7.75 x 11 foot wind tunnel (OA143)

Experimental aerodynamic investigations were conducted on a sting mounted .0405-scale representation of the 140C outer mold line space shuttle orbiter configuration in the Rockwell International 7.75 x 11.00 foot low speed wind tunnel. The primary test objectives were to define the orbiter wheel well pressure loading and its effects on landing gear thermal insulation and to investigate the pressure environment experienced by both the horizontal flight nose probe and air vent door probes. Steady state and dynamic pressure values were recorded in the orbiter nose gear well, left main landing gear well, horizontal flight nose probe, and both left and right air vent door probe. All steady state pressure levels were measured by Statham differential pressure transducers while dynamic pressure levels were recorded by Kulite high frequency response pressure sensors.

Mennell, R. C.↗

GASCan 2 payload integration

This project, conducted in cooperation with the NASA Advanced Space Design Program, is part of an ongoing effort to place an experiment package into space. The goal of this project is to build and test flight-ready hardware that can be launched from the Space Shuttle. Get Away Special Canister 2 (GASCan 2) consists of three separate experiments. The Ionospheric Properties and Propagation Experiment (IPPE) determines effects of the ionosphere on radio wave propagation. The Microgravity Ignition experiment (MGI) tests the effects of combustion in a microgravity environment. The Rotational Fluid Flow experiment (RFF) examines fluid behavior under varying levels of gravity. This year the following tasks were completed: design of the IPPE antenna, X- and J-cell battery boxes, J-cell battery box enclosure, and structural bumpers; construction of the MGI canisters, MGI mounting brackets, IPPE antenna, and battery boxes; and the selection of the RFF's operating fluid and the analysis of the fluid behavior under microgravity test conditions.

Cody, Dennis J.↗

Applying a Genetic Algorithm to Reconfigurable Hardware

This paper investigates the feasibility of applying genetic algorithms to solve optimization problems that are implemented entirely in reconfgurable hardware. The paper highlights the pe$ormance/design space trade-offs that must be understood to effectively implement a standard genetic algorithm within a modem Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA, reconfgurable hardware environment and presents a case-study where this stochastic search technique is applied to standard test-case problems taken from the technical literature. In this research, the targeted FPGA-based platform and high-level design environment was the Starbridge Hypercomputing platform, which incorporates multiple Xilinx Virtex II FPGAs, and the Viva TM graphical hardware description language.

Wells, B. Earl↗

On the search for extant life on Mars

Proposals for continuing the search for extant life on Mars are primarily predicated on the assumption that specialized environmental niches that could support a biota may exist on the planet. Before attempting any critical tests for extant organisms, either in situ or on returned samples, it is imperative to determine whether any such sites actually exist. If, through remote sensing and landed instrumentation, sites of potential biological interest are discovered and characterized, biological tests can then more effectively be planned to elicit the presence of organisms that are adapted to living in these particular environments.

NASA Discipline Exobiology↗

Lessons Learned from Performance Testing of Humans in Spacesuits in Simulated Reduced Gravity

Introduction: The overarching objective of the Integrated Suit Test (IST) series is to evaluate suited human performance using reduced-gravity analogs and learn what aspects of an EVA suit system affect human performance. For this objective to be successfully achieved, the testing methodology should be valid and reproducible, and the partial-gravity simulations must be as accurate and realistic as possible. Objectives: To highlight some of the key lessons learned about partial-gravity analogs and testing methodology, and to suggest considerations for optimizing the effectiveness and quality of results of future tests. Methods: Performance testing of suited and unsuited subjects was undertaken in different reduced-gravity analogs including the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility s Partial Gravity Simulator (POGO), parabolic flight on the C-9 aircraft, underwater environments including NASA s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) and the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL), and in field analogs including Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS), the Haughton Mars Project (HMP), and the JSC Rock Pile. Subjects performed level walking, incline/decline walking, running, shoveling, picking up and transferring rocks, kneeling/standing, and task boards. Lessons Learned Analogs: No single analog will properly simulate all aspects of the true partial-gravity environment. The POGO is an ideal environment from the standpoint that there are no time limits or significant volumetric constraints, but it does have several limitations. It allows only 2 translational degrees of freedom (DOF) and applies true partial-gravity offload only through the subject s center of gravity (CG). Also, when a subject is doing non-stationary tasks, significant overhead inertia from the lift column seems to have a negative impact on performance. Parabolic flight allows full translational and rotational DOF and applies offload to all parts of the body, but the simulation lasts less than 30 seconds. When this is coupled with the volumetric constraints of the plane, both task selection and data collection options are significantly limited. The underwater environments also allow all 6 DOF and allow off-loading to be applied throughout the body, but the data collection capabilities are limited to little more than subjective ratings. In addition, water drag negatively affects performance of tasks requiring dynamic motion. Field analogs provide the ability to simulate lunar terrain and more realistic mission-like objectives, but all of them operate at 1-g, so suited human performance testing generally must utilize a reduced-mass or "mockup" suit, depending on study objectives. In general, the ground-based overhead-suspension partial-gravity analogs like POGO allow the most diverse data collection methods possible while still simulating partial gravity. However, as currently designed, the POGO has significant limitations. Design of the Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) has begun and is focusing on adding full x,y,z translational DOF, improved offload accuracy, increased lift capacity, and active control of the x and y axes to minimize offload system inertia. Additionally, a new gimbal is being designed to reduce mass and inertia and to be able to work with different suits, as the current gimbal only supports suited testing with the Mark III Technology Demonstrator Suit (MKIII).

Norcross, Jason R.↗

An Algorithm for the Transport of Anisotropic Neutrons

One major obstacle to human space exploration is the possible limitations imposed by the adverse effect of long-term exposure to the space environment. Even before human spaceflight began, the potentially brief exposure of astronauts to the very intense random solar particle events (SPE) were of great concern. A new challenge appears in deep space exploration from exposure to the low-intensity heavy-ion flux of the galactic cosmic rays (GCR) since the missions are of long duration and the accumulated GCR exposures can be high. Because cancer induction rates increase behind low to rather large thicknesses of aluminum shielding, according to available biological data on mammalian exposures to GCR like ions, the shield requirements for a Mars mission are prohibitively expensive in terms of mission launch costs. Therefore, a critical issue in the Human Exploration and Development of Space enterprise is cost effective mitigation of risk associated with ionizing radiation exposure. In order to estimate astronaut risk to GCR exposure and associated cancer risks and health hazards, it is necessary to do shield material studies. To determine an optimum radiation shield material it is necessary to understand nuclear interaction processes such as fragmentation and secondary particle production which is a function of energy dependent cross sections. This requires knowledge of material transmission characteristics either through laboratory testing or improved theoretical modeling. Here ion beam transport theory is of importance in that testing of materials in the laboratory environment generated by particle accelerators is a necessary step in materials development and evaluation for space use. The approximations used in solving the Boltzmann transport equation for the space setting are often not sufficient for laboratory work and those issues are a major emphasis of the present work.

Tweed, J.↗