Abstract
Beyond Earth atmosphere, natural space radiation from Galactic Cosmic Rays and Solar Energetic Protons (SEPs) represents a significant hazard to both manned and robotic missions. For lunar settlements, protecting astronauts from SEPs is a key safety issue that needs to be addressed by identifying appropriate shielding materials. This paper investigates the interaction of SEPs with the lunar regolith, and quantifies the effectiveness of the regolith as a biological shield for a human habitat, compared to aluminum, presently the standard shielding material. Also calculated is the shielding thickness to reduce the dose in the habitat to those recommended by International Radiation Protection Committee and by NASA for operation on the international space station. The present calculations are for the most energetic solar event of February 1956, which included high energy protons up to 1000 MeV. Results show that the lunar regolith is as effective as aluminum for shielding lunar outposts. A large thickness of t...
Published Version
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