Dosimetric Characteristics of HZE Particles in Space.
Abstract
HZE particles, i.e., galactic heavy primaries with very high values of Linear Energy Transfer (LET) pose a special radiation hazard on manned space missions. While cellular destruction by single hits has been demonstrated, more general data on dose/effect relationships are not available since conventional concepts and units of radiation dosimetry are not applicable. The report summarizes existing knowledge on the energy spectrum of galactic heavy primaries and analyzes the microdosimetric pattern of energy dissipation in tissue. It is shown that the LET distribution shows a steep negative slope with the frequency of events decreasing steeply with increasing LET down to less than one event per cc tissue per day at 4000 kev/micron tissue. Assessing the HZE particle hazard requires new approaches in both radiobiological experimentation and dosimetric instrumentation. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 15, 1972
- Accession Number
- AD0754427
Entities
People
- Hermann J. Schaefer
Organizations
- Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory