The radiation environment on the surface of Mars - Summary of model calculations and comparison to RAD data

Daniel Matthiä; Donald M. Hassler; Wouter de Wet; Bent Ehresmann; Ana Firan; John Flores-McLaughlin; Jingnan Guo; Lawrence H. Heilbronn; Kerry Lee; Hunter Ratliff; Ryan R. Rios; Tony C. Slaba; Michael Smith; Nicholas N. Stoffle; Lawrence W. Townsend; Thomas Berger; Günther Reitz; Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber; Cary Zeitlin

doi:10.1016/j.lssr.2017.06.003

The radiation environment on the surface of Mars - Summary of model calculations and comparison to RAD data

Daniel Matthiä, Donald M. Hassler, Wouter de Wet, Bent Ehresmann, Ana Firan, John Flores-McLaughlin, Jingnan Guo, Lawrence H. Heilbronn, Kerry Lee, Hunter Ratliff, Ryan R. Rios, Tony C. Slaba, Michael Smith, Nicholas N. Stoffle, Lawrence W. Townsend, Thomas Berger, Günther Reitz, Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber, Cary Zeitlin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

63 Scopus citations

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
Pages (from-to)	18-28
Number of pages	11
Journal	Life Sciences in Space Research
Volume	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lssr.2017.06.003
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.

Keywords

Galactic cosmic radiation
Mars
Modeling
Particle flux
Radiation exposure

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10.1016/j.lssr.2017.06.003

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Matthiä, D., Hassler, D. M., de Wet, W., Ehresmann, B., Firan, A., Flores-McLaughlin, J., Guo, J., Heilbronn, L. H., Lee, K., Ratliff, H., Rios, R. R., Slaba, T. C., Smith, M., Stoffle, N. N., Townsend, L. W., Berger, T., Reitz, G., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., & Zeitlin, C. (2017). The radiation environment on the surface of Mars - Summary of model calculations and comparison to RAD data. Life Sciences in Space Research, 14, 18-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lssr.2017.06.003

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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.",

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author = "Daniel Matthi{\"a} and Hassler, {Donald M.} and {de Wet}, Wouter and Bent Ehresmann and Ana Firan and John Flores-McLaughlin and Jingnan Guo and Heilbronn, {Lawrence H.} and Kerry Lee and Hunter Ratliff and Rios, {Ryan R.} and Slaba, {Tony C.} and Michael Smith and Stoffle, {Nicholas N.} and Townsend, {Lawrence W.} and Thomas Berger and G{\"u}nther Reitz and Wimmer-Schweingruber, {Robert F.} and Cary Zeitlin",

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year = "2017",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1016/j.lssr.2017.06.003",

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Matthiä, D, Hassler, DM, de Wet, W, Ehresmann, B, Firan, A, Flores-McLaughlin, J, Guo, J, Heilbronn, LH, Lee, K, Ratliff, H, Rios, RR, Slaba, TC, Smith, M, Stoffle, NN, Townsend, LW, Berger, T, Reitz, G, Wimmer-Schweingruber, RF & Zeitlin, C 2017, 'The radiation environment on the surface of Mars - Summary of model calculations and comparison to RAD data', Life Sciences in Space Research, vol. 14, pp. 18-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lssr.2017.06.003

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AU - Heilbronn, Lawrence H.

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AU - Ratliff, Hunter

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AU - Slaba, Tony C.

AU - Smith, Michael

AU - Stoffle, Nicholas N.

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AU - Berger, Thomas

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AU - Zeitlin, Cary

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AB - 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.

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The radiation environment on the surface of Mars - Summary of model calculations and comparison to RAD data

Abstract

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Keywords

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