RadProtection
Radiation Protection for Humans in Transit
The best initial work in this area was done by Anders Jorgensen (Anders Jorgensen et. al., Acta Astronautica 60 (2007) 198 – 209). Anders evaluated the environment and presented the raw case for people in the Earth's radiation belts.
A re-evaluation with a focus on how to make manned transport up the space elevator was conducted by Brad Edwards and presented at the Luxembourg Space elevator conference in December, 2008.
There are plenty of issues in transporting people to space and simply having people in space - thermal issues, orbital debris, living space, living in zero-gravity, medical complications of extended occupation of space,... The greatest initial concern though is with radiation. Earth's radiation belts are serious and without protection can kill humans. As we will find though the intrinsic shielding of all the requirements of living in space bring us very close to making it safely.
As Anders presented in his paper the radiation belts are composed of charged particles - electrons and protons primarily up to 100MeV. Such particles can penetrate material of considerable thickness to cause damage. That damage in humans can be to the skin, eyes, and/or internal organs. The acceptable levels for humans are:
General public ?? Rem for eyes ?? Rem for skin ?? Rem for internal organs
Astronauts ?? Rem for eyes ?? Rem for skin ?? Rem for internal organs
Ongoing Work
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