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14 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Measuring Magnets Transfer Functions in the NSRL Transport Line

The beamline at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) is equipped with a range of magnets, including dipole magnets, dipole corrector magnets, quadrupole magnets, sextupole magnets, and octupole magnets. The magnet transfer function defines the relationship between the power supply currents and the corresponding magnet strengths. This note presents the measurements of the transfer functions for the dipole correctors and quadrupole magnet in the NSRL beamline.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

NASA’s first ground-based Galactic Cosmic Ray Simulator: Enabling a new era in space radiobiology research

With exciting new NASA plans for a sustainable return to the moon, astronauts will once again leave Earth’s protective magnetosphere only to endure higher levels of radiation from galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) and the possibility of a large solar particle event (SPE). Gateway, lunar landers, and surface habitats will be designed to protect crew against SPEs with vehicle optimization, storm shelter concepts, and/or active dosimetry; however, the ever penetrating GCR will continue to pose the most significant health risks especially as lunar missions increase in duration and as NASA sets its aspirations on Mars. The primary risks of concern include carcinogenesis, central nervous system (CNS) effects resulting in potential in-mission cognitive or behavioral impairment and/or late neurological disorders, degenerative tissue effects including circulatory and heart disease, as well as potential immune system decrements impacting multiple aspects of crew health. Characterization and mitigation of these risks requires a significant reduction in the large biological uncertainties of chronic (low-dose rate) heavy-ion exposures and the validation of countermeasures in a relevant space environment. Historically, most research on understanding space radiation-induced health risks has been performed using acute exposures of monoenergetic single-ion beams. However, the space radiation environment consists of a wide variety of ion species over a broad energy range. Using the fast beam switching and controls systems technology recently developed at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a new era in radiobiological research is possible. NASA has developed the “GCR Simulator” to generate a spectrum of ion beams that approximates the primary and secondary GCR field experienced at human organ locations within a deep-space vehicle. The majority of the dose is delivered from protons (approximately 65%–75%) and helium ions (approximately 10%–20%) with heavier ions (Z ≥ 3) contributing the remainder. The GCR simulator exposes state-of-the art cellular and animal model systems to 33 sequential beams including 4 proton energies plus degrader, 4 helium energies plus degrader, and the 5 heavy ions of C, O, Si, Ti, and Fe. A polyethylene degrader system is used with the 100 MeV/n H and He beams to provide a nearly continuous distribution of low-energy particles. A 500 mGy exposure, delivering doses from each of the 33 beams, requires approximately 75 minutes. To more closely simulate the low-dose rates found in space, sequential field exposures can be divided into daily fractions over 2 to 6 weeks, with individual beam fractions as low as 0.1 to 0.2 mGy. In the large beam configuration (60 × 60 cm 2 ), 54 special housing cages can accommodate 2 to 3 mice each for an approximately 75 min duration or 15 individually housed rats. On June 15, 2018, the NSRL made a significant achievement by completing the first operational run using the new GCR simulator. This paper discusses NASA’s innovative technology solution for a ground-based GCR simulator at the NSRL to accelerate our understanding and mitigation of health risks faced by astronauts. Ultimately, the GCR simulator will require validation across multiple radiogenic risks, endpoints, doses, and dose rates.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Beam Scattering Through Foil at NSRL

In this note, we describe the foil structure that is used in the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) transport line just before D6 septum magnet. Foils of different materials and thickness are used through which different ion species at different energies pass. Foil removes the electrons from the incoming ions and make it fully stripped (or partially stripped is also possible). Further, when charged particles pass through a foil, the outgoing particles form a Gaussian like angular distribution. This Gaussian like distribution passes through a set of octupole magnets creates a uniform beam distribution at the NSRL target which is required for various beam experiments. We utilize the Bmad and SRIM packages to calculate the energy loss through the foils for various ion species at different energies and charge states. Finally, we provide a summary of the energy loss calculations through the foils using these two different methods.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Progress of the laser ion source upgrade (LION2) for RHIC and NSRL program at Brookhaven National Laboratory

At Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), the LION2 ion source is being constructed to replace an existing laser ion ablation ion source (LIS) at the EBIS facility, which provides heavy ion beams of multiple ion species for the operation of NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) and Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The LION1 ion source currently provides singly charged ions of Li, B, C, O, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zr, Nb, Ag, Tb, Ta, W, Au, Bi, and Th with a rapid-species-change capability. An electron beam ion source, Extended-EBIS captures, confines, and ionizes the ions to high charge state, suitable for injection and acceleration by an RFQ accelerator. Typically, single pulses of the LIS ion species for NSRL are changed sequentially during Galactic Cosmic Ray experiments, while multiple pulses of a given ion beam are provided quasi-simultaneously for RHIC. LION2 will have the same capability of the rapid-species-change with improved beam performance and reliability. LION2 is being constructed in a remote assembly location and is expected to finish in December 2023. The removal of LION1 and installation of LION2 is planned during the December 2023 or summer 2024 shutdown.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Galactic cosmic ray simulation at the NASA space radiation laboratory – Progress, challenges and recommendations on mixed-field effects

For missions beyond low Earth orbit to the moon or Mars, space explorers will encounter a complex radiation field composed of various ion species with a broad range of energies. Such missions pose significant radiation protection challenges that need to be solved in order to minimize exposures and associated health risks. An innovative galactic cosmic ray simulator (GCRsim) was recently developed at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The GCRsim technology is intended to represent major components of the space radiation environment in a ground analog laboratory setting where it can be used to improve understanding of biological risks and serve as a testbed for countermeasure development and validation. The current GCRsim consists of 33 energetic ion beams that collectively simulate the primary and secondary GCR field encountered by humans in space over the broad range of particle types, energies, and linear energy transfer (LET) of interest to health effects. A virtual workshop was held in December 2020 to assess the status of the NASA baseline GCRsim. Workshop attendees examined various aspects of simulator design, with a particular emphasis on beam selection strategies. Experimental results, modeling approaches, areas of consensus, and questions of concern were also discussed in detail. This report includes a summary of the GCRsim workshop and a description of the current status of the GCRsim. This information is important for future advancements and applications in space radiobiology.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impact of galactic cosmic ray simulation on nutritional content of foods

Foods packaged for future deep-space exploration missions may be prepositioned ahead of astronaut arrival, and will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar radiation in deep space at higher levels and different spectrums than those found in low-Earth orbit (LEO). In this study, we have evaluated the impact of a GCR simulation (approximately 0.5 and 5 Gy doses) at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) on two retort thermostabilized food products that are good sources of radiation labile nutrients (thiamin, vitamin E, or unsaturated fats). No trends or nutritional differences were found between the radiation-treated samples and the control immediately after treatment or one-year after treatment. Small changes in a few nutrients were measured following one-year of storage. Further studies are needed to confirm these results, as the foods in this study were heterogeneous, and this may have masked meaningful changes due to pouch-to-pouch variations.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Performance of laser ion source LION operated at Brookhaven National Laboratory

LION is a laser ion source that has been in operation at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to provide heavy ions for NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) and Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). It is the first laser ion source to supply stable ion beams for a long-term operation for users at a large accelerator facility in the world. LION is located at the upstream end of the heavy ion accelerator complex at BNL and supplies singly charged ion beams of various ion species. LION has been in operation since 2014 and is planned to be upgraded in 2024. This paper summarizes the operational performance achieved by LION.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Commissioning of Extended Electron Beam Ion Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Here, the Extended Electron Beam Ion Source (EEBIS) has been installed and commissioned at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) hadron accelerator complex in the spring of 2023. EEBIS has replaced its predecessor, RhicEBIS, which provided ions for BNL hadron facilities for over a decade since 2009. The motivations for the source upgrade are to provide higher intensities of the Au 32+ ion beam for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and to provide of an intense source of polarized 3 He 2+ ions for the future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) at BNL. EEBIS is and will continue to be the primary source for a variety of different ion species for the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at BNL. EEBIS utilizes two identical, two-meter-long unshielded 5T warm bore superconducting solenoids, and it is operated with electron beam current up to 10 A, providing a high-capacity ion traps to fulfill the requirement for high intensity ion beams. The upstream solenoid contains a “short ion trap” with a length of 95 cm, while the “long ion trap” with a length of 178 cm is located inside the downstream solenoid bore. The main features of EEBIS are: * A Gas injection and ionization cell equipped with a Lorenz pulse valve * High-capacity ZAO non-evaporable getter (NEG) custom linear pumping units * In situ apparatus for pumping speed measurements to monitor NEG activation and saturation * “External drift tube” construction with differential pumping stages to provide space for Lorentz pulse valve and 3 He high-field polarization cell * A Ba oxide electron gun cathode. The design of EEBIS as well as the results of its commissioning and first-year operation are presented and discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Radial Steering Displacement Method to Measure Dispersion

The measurement of the dispersion function in a transfer line plays the crucial role for the development of an accurate optics model for the beam tracking simulation. In this technical note, we describe an experimental method to measure the dispersion value at multi-wire location MW063 in the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) transfer line. Finally, we use our MADX model to calculate the dispersion function at the same multi-wire location. The ultimate goal of this measurement and calculation is to understand the right value of dispersion function and the beam size (emittance) at the entrance of NSRL beam line.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Resonant Slow Extraction Simulation using Bmad

Simulations of slow extraction and transport of charged particle beams from synchrotrons requires careful modeling and experimentation. In this paper, we outline how the Bmad modeling software was adapted and developed to run third-integer resonant extraction simulations of beams at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Booster synchrotron. Further, we show experimental comparisons of the slowly extracted beams transferred to the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) transport line. In this process, beam passes through a stripping foil element at the extraction point, which, along with stripping remaining electrons from the beam ions, acts as a scatterer to modify the phase space, moving to a more Gaussian-like distribution. This modification to the beam helps generate a uniform beam at the beam line’s target location; which is necessary for the variety of experiments performed at the facility. During this work, beam energy loss and multiple scattering by foil routines were built in conjunction with the Bmad code developers and are now integrated into the software.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Immediate effects of acute Mars mission equivalent doses of SEP and GCR radiation on the murine gastrointestinal system-protective effects of curcumin-loaded nanolipoprotein particles (cNLPs)

Introduction: Missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) will expose astronauts to ionizing radiation (IR) in the form of solar energetic particles (SEP) and galactic cosmic rays (GCR) including high atomic number and energy (HZE) nuclei. The gastrointestinal (GI) system is documented to be highly radiosensitive with even relatively low dose IR exposures capable of inducing mucosal lesions and disrupting epithelial barrier function. IR is also an established risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) with several studies examining long-term GI effects of SEP/GCR exposure using tumor-prone APC mouse models. Studies of acute short-term effects of modeled space radiation exposures in wildtype mouse models are more limited and necessary to better define charged particle- induced GI pathologies and test novel medical countermeasures (MCMs) to promote astronaut safety. Methods: In this study, we performed ground-based studies where male and female C57BL/6J mice were exposed to γ-rays, 50 MeV protons, or 1 GeV/n Fe-56 ions at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) with histology and immunohistochemistry endpoints measured in the first 24 h post-irradiation to define immediate SEP/GCR-induced GI alterations. Results: Our data show that unlike matched γ-ray controls, acute exposures to protons and iron ions disrupts intestinal function and induces mucosal lesions, vascular congestion, epithelial barrier breakdown, and marked enlargement of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. We also measured kinetics of DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair using gamma-H2AX- specific antibodies and apoptosis via TUNEL labeling, noting the induction and disappearance of extranuclear cytoplasmic DNA marked by gamma-H2AX only in the charged particle-irradiated samples. We show that 18 h pre-treatment with curcumin-loaded nanolipoprotein particles (cNLPs) delivered via IV injection reduces DSB-associated foci levels and apoptosis and restore crypt villi lengths. Discussion: These data improve our understanding of physiological alterations in the GI tract immediately following exposures to modeled space radiations and demonstrates effectiveness of a promising space radiation MCM.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

59 Co(p,X) spallation reaction cross sections for 250 MeV to 2 GeV protons

Cobalt is an advantageous target for probing the physics of nuclear spallation, because it is a naturally mono-isotopic element ( 59 Co), and its per-nucleon binding energy (BE/A = 8.768 MeV) is near the maximum value for all nuclei. We measured nuclear spallation cross sections for the 59 Co(p,X) reaction at five kinetic energies ranging from 250 MeV to 2 GeV. Cross sections for the production of 58 Co, 57 Co, 57 Mn, 56 Co, 56 Mn, 56 Cr, 55 Fe, 53 Fe, 54 Mn, 52 Mn, 51 Cr, 49 Cr, 48 V, 47 Sc, 46 Sc, 44 Sc, and 44 Scm are reported. Where comparable data exist in the EXFOR reaction database, we find that our measured cross sections generally agree. In many cases, we provide data for reactions or energies not currently reported in EXFOR. Our cross sections also provide evidence for the presence of α-clusters within the 59 Co nucleus, a surprising result given the asymmetry in Z (27) and N (32) for this nucleus. Finally, we use our measurements to evaluate the accuracy of spallation cross section simulations from GEANT4-based radiation transport toolkit, performed with the INCLXX-, Bertini-, and Binary-ion-cascade (BIC) based physics lists. This benchmarking activity revealed that the simulations overestimated the cross sections by a factor of ∼2–4 on average, and that the INCL-XX physics list provides the most reliable results. This evaluation informs the selection of the GEANT4 physics lists used for the analysis of data from NASA’s Psyche mission, which will measure γ rays and neutrons resulting from spallation reactions occurring on the surface of an asteroid whose surface is thought to be rich in iron-nickel metal.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Beam characterization at NSRL for radiobiological experiments—phase 1

An experimental campaign was carried out at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory to perform an additional, independent dosimetric characterization of the beams of protons, helium and carbon ions for radiobiological experiments. The campaign was undertaken by the request and with the support from the National Cancer Institute, U.S. In this initial phase, the goals were to obtain a first assessment of the dosimetric reproducibility of the beam control system, including analysis of spatial homogeneity and evaluation of ion beam contamination. They should facilitate the design of further experimental campaigns for beam characterization for radiobiological experiments. Measurements included reference dosimetry with comparison of in-house and external ionization chambers and electrometers, lateral-dose profile measurements in air, depth-dose profile in a water tank, evaluation of water equivalent thickness of a HDPE binary range shifter and estimation of impurities of the investigated helium-ion beam. The experiments and results are presented.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗