Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Mar 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002aps..tss.cb001d&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, Joint Spring Meeting of the Texas Sections of the APS and AAPT, and Zone 13 of the SPS March 7-9, 200
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The two steady sources of radiation in low Earth orbit are the inner trapped-belt and galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), which present a very significant hazard to the astronauts and flight equipment electronics. The fluxes of GCR and inner trapped-belt particles at a fixed altitude are modulated by solar activity. They decrease with increasing solar activity in general. The mechanism of these two sources of radiation are, however, very different. In this project we shall be concerned with modeling the inner trapped-belt protons. The existing trapped-belt models, namely AP-8 is based on data acquired prior to 1970 during solar cycle 20 with relatively low solar flux. These models describe the environment at solar minimum and solar maximum only. Cycles 21 and 22 were much larger, but no valid radiation model exists for such large values. Moreover, the existing models like AP-8, CRRESPRO, and GOST describe the flux to an accuracy of a factor of two to five. There is clear need to accurately predict radiation exposure of astronauts and equipment at all times between the solar minimum and solar maximum, not only on the short duration Space Shuttle flights, but also the longer term stay onboard the International Space Station. In our approach we are taking into account some important parameters, which are responsible for energy losses of protons within the belts. These energy losses are primarily to electrons and by collisions to atmospheric nuclei. Accordingly the atmospheric density dependence at a certain altitude during a specific solar activity is an important parameter that needs to be accurately incorporated into a realistic model. We are involved in developing such a model, which would enable us to predict the radiation exposure for all occasions.
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