Astroparticle Experiments to Improve the Biological Risk Assessment of Exposure to Ionizing Radiation in the Exploratory Space Missions: The research topic initiative

Abstract

The actual and next decade will be characterized by an exponential increase in the Beyond Low Earth Orbit space exploration. In this context, a detailed space radiation field characterization will be crucial to optimize radioprotection strategies, assess the risk of the health hazard related to human space exploration, and reduce the damages potentially induced to astronauts from galactic cosmic radiation. Since the beginning of the century, many astroparticle experiments investigating the unknown universe components (e.g., dark matter, antimatter, dark energy) have collected enormous amounts of data regarding the cosmic ray (CR) components of the radiation in space. Such experiments are CR observatories, and the collected CR events contain valuable information that can enhance the space radiation field characterization. This paper will briefly present the status of the art of this research topic, and a research initiative titled “Astroparticle Experiments to Improve the Biological Risk Assessment of Exposure to Ionizing Radiation in the Exploratory Space Missions” will be introduced.