Mars Surface Ionizing Radiation Environment: Need for Validation

摘要

Protection against the hazards from exposure to ionizing radiation ramains an unresolved issue in the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) enterprise. major uncertainty is the lack of data on biological response to galactic cosmic ray (GCR) exposures but even a full understanding of the physical interaction of GCR with shielding and body tissues is not yet available and has a potentially large impact on mission costs. The general opinion is that the initial flights should be short-stay missions performed as fast as possible (so-called ''Sprint'' missions) to minimize crew exposure to the zero-g and space radiation environment, to ease requirements on system reliability, and to enhance the probability of mission success. short-stay missions tend to have long transit times and may not be the best option due to the relatively long exposure to zero-g and ionizing radiation. On the otherhand the short-transit missions tend to have long stays on the surface requiring an adequate knowledge of the surface radiation environment to estimate risks and to design shield configurations. Our knowledge of the surface environment is theoretically based on suffers from an incomplete understanding of the physical interactions of GCR with the Martian atmosphere, Martian surface, and intervening shield materials. An important component of Mars surface robotic exploration is the opportunity to test our understanding of the Mars surface environment.