TL dose measurements on board the Russian segment of the ISS by the “Pille” system during Expedition-8, -9 and -10

Abstract

The “Pille-MKS” thermoluminescent (TL) dosimeter system developed by the KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute (KFKI AEKI) and BL-Electronics, consisting of 10 CaSO₄:Dy bulb dosimeters and a compact reader, has been continuously operating on board the International Space Station (ISS) since October 2003. The dosimeter system is utilized for routine and extravehicular activity (EVA) individual dosimetry of astronauts/cosmonauts as part of the service system as well as for on board experiments, and is operated by the Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP). The system is unique in that it regularly provides accurate dose data right on board the space station, a feature that became increasingly important during the suspension of the Space Shuttle flights. Seven dosimeters are located at different places of the Russian segment of the ISS and are read out once a month. Two of these dosimeters are dedicated to EVAs and one is kept in the reader and will be read out automatically every 90 min. During coronal mass ejections impacting Earth some of the dosimeters serve for individual monitoring of the astronauts with readouts once or twice every day. In this paper we report the results of dosimetric measurements made on board the ISS during Expedition-8, -9 and -10 using the “Pille” portable thermoluminescent detector (TLD) system and we compare them with our previous measurements on different space stations.