[ad_1]
Space radiation on the moon is two to three times higher than on the International Space Station (ISS). This could be one of the biggest dangers for future lunar explorers, the Chinese lunar probe discovered.
A Sino-German team reported radiation data collected by the lunar lander, named Chang’e-4 after the Chinese moon goddess, in the US journal Science Advances. Chang’e-4 made the first soft landing on the opposite side of the Moon in January 2019.
Read more: China’s Chang’e-4 lunar probe completes the 22nd lunar day with the latest findings
The discovery provides the first comprehensive measurements of radiation exposure from the lunar surface, vital information for NASA and others aiming to send astronauts to the moon, the study noted.
“This is an immense achievement in the sense that we now have a data set that we can use to compare our radiation” and better understand the potential risk to people on the moon, said Thomas Berger, a physicist at the Agency’s institute of medicine. German Space. .
Although the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s showed that it was safe for people to spend a few days on the lunar surface, NASA did not take daily radiation measurements that would help scientists quantify how long crews could stay.
The question is now answered.
Astronauts would receive 200 to 1,000 times more radiation on the moon than we experience on Earth, or five to 10 times more than passengers on a transatlantic airline flight, said Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber of Christian-Albrechts University. in Kiel, Germany.
“The radiation levels we measure on the Moon are roughly 200 times higher than on the Earth’s surface and five to 10 times higher than on a flight from New York to Frankfurt,” added Wimmer-Schweingruber.
That means humans can stay up to two months on the moon’s surface without special protective measures, according to Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber, an astrophysicist at the University of Kiel.
Radiation sources
There are several sources of radiation exposure: galactic cosmic rays, sporadic solar particle events (eg, from solar flares), and neutrons and gamma rays from interactions between space radiation and the lunar soil.
Radiation is measured using the sievert unit, which quantifies the amount absorbed by human tissues.
The team found that radiation exposure on the Moon is 1,369 microsieverts per day, roughly 2.6 times higher than the daily dose for the International Space Station crew.
The reason for this is that the ISS is still partially shielded by Earth’s protective magnetic bubble, called the magnetosphere, which deflects most of the radiation from space.
Earth’s atmosphere provides additional protection for humans on the surface, but we are more exposed the higher we climb.
NASA plans to get humans to the Moon by 2024 under the Artemis mission and has said it has plans for a long-term presence that would include astronauts working and living on the surface.
For Wimmer-Schweingruber, there is an alternative solution if we want humans to spend more than two or three months: build habitats that are protected from radiation by covering them with 80 centimeters (30 inches) of lunar soil.
(With contributions from agencies)
