Abstract
The radiation environment at the Martian surface is, apart from occasional solar energetic particle events, dominated by galactic cosmic radiation, secondary particles produced in their interaction with the Martian atmosphere and albedo particles from the Martian regolith. The highly energetic primary cosmic radiation consists mainly of fully ionized nuclei creating a complex radiation field at the Martian surface. This complex field, its formation and its potential health risk posed to astronauts on future manned missions to Mars can only be fully understood using a combination of measurements and model calculations. In this work the outcome of a workshop held in June 2016 in Boulder, CO, USA is presented: experimental results from the Radiation Assessment Detector of the Mars Science Laboratory are compared to model results from GEANT4, HETC–HEDS, HZETRN, MCNP6, and PHITS. Charged and neutral particle spectra and dose rates measured between 15 November 2015 and 15 January 2016 and model results calculated for this time period are investigated.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 18-28 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Life Sciences in Space Research |
Volume | 14 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
RAD is supported by NASA (HEOMD) under JPL subcontract 1273039 to Southwest Research Institute and in Germany by DLR and DLR's Space Administration grants 50QM0501 and 50QM1201 to the Christian Albrechts University, Kiel.
Funders | Funder number |
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Christian Albrechts University | |
DLR's Space Administration | |
HEOMD | |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration | |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory | 1273039 |
Southwest Research Institute | |
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt | 50QM0501, 50QM1201 |
Keywords
- Galactic cosmic radiation
- Mars
- Modeling
- Particle flux
- Radiation exposure