DOSIMETRY FOR HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT

Abstract

The radiation environment encountered in space differs not only in nature but also in its high biological effectiveness from that on Earth, resulting in radiation levels far exceeding the ones encountered on Earth for occupational radiation workers. The requirements for radiation detectors in space are very different to that on Earth. The dosimetric surveillance of astro- and cosmonauts started already with the first human space missions. The findings from these experiments, together with the current experiments for depth dose and organ dose determination applying anthropomorphic phantoms and including radiation transport calculations, aim for a better radiation risk assessment for future long-duration human space flights.