Space Radiation Dosimetry

Corpuscular radiations in space have been observed over an intensity range of about 27 orders of magnitude, and a kinetic energy span of about 17 orders of magnitude. The nature of space radiation problems depends on the number-energy distributions of the ionizing radiations encountered in space. Primary radiation sources consist principally of protons, alpha particles, and heavy nuclei in the cosmic radiation of solar and non-solar origin, and protons and electrons in the geomagnetically trapped radiation. Secondary radiation sources arise from the interactions of the primary charged-particle radiation with matter. Problems in space radiation dosimetry are concerned with the proper assessment of the dose arising from charged-particle interactions with matter. Both the absorbed dose and the dose-equivalent often depend upon the nature of the degraded spectrum at the dose point.