INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION INTERNAL RADIATION MONITORING (ISS
INTERNAL RADIATION MONITORING)
Research Area: Technology Development and Demonstration: Radiation
Measurements and Shielding
Expedition(s): 1-ongoing
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
International Space Station Internal Radiation
Monitoring is responsible for gathering,
analyzing, and interpreting the internal
environment radiation data for the ISS in
order to help ensure crew health
protection. Crew health before, during, and
following spaceflight is essential to overall ISS
mission success. All of the partner agencies
recognize the importance of crew health to
mission success and are dedicated to
maintaining the health of all crew members
throughout all phases of ISS missions.EARTH BENEFITS
Maintaining crew member health and safety
while in orbit better ensures that crew
member functionality is not jeopardized as a
result of time spent on a mission, therefore,
allowing them to resume life on Earth
unaffected by space travel.SPACE BENEFITS
Human exploration and development of space
without exceeding acceptable risk from
exposure to ionizing radiation is one of NASA’s main objectives. Moral, legal, safety, and
practical considerations require that NASA limit postflight risks incurred by humans living and
working in space to acceptable levels.
RESULTS
The ISS is performing well within expectations with respect to total ionizing dose (TID)
degradation and single event effects (SEE) impacts on electromechanical (EEE) parts and
avionics performance. Until recently, ISS has been flying at altitudes between 350 and 400 km
during solar maximum, well below the 500 km specified for the worst-case radiation design
environment. TID accumulated to date is well below the performance degradation threshold for
EEE parts. Ionizing radiation dose measurements, made within the habitable volume with
thermoluminescent dosimeters and crew personal dosimeters, range from 5 to 12 microGy (0.5
ISS009E06471 – EXPRESS Rack 5 with the
Intravehicular Charged Particle Directional
Spectrometer (IV-CPDS) (gold box in left field of view)
and the Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter
Radiation Detector (gold cylinder) and upper storage
compartments visible. EXPRESS Rack 5 is in the
Destiny module/U. laboratory. NASA image.