Estimates of Radiation Exposures to Crews on Missions in Cis-Lunar Space from the October 1989 Series of Solar Particle Events

In its 2008 report, the National Research Council recommended against the use of the King spectrum August 1972 solar energetic particle event as the design standard [1]. It was stated in the Council report that radiation exposures from other events in the historical record could exceed those from the 1972 event. Instead, the Council recommended that other events, such as the October 1989 event, be used in place of the 1972 event. In this work we present estimates of radiation exposures to male and female crew members in cis-lunar space from the summed spectrum of the October 1989 series of events and from the August 1972 King spectrum. These estimates are obtained for both aluminum and polyethylene shields, and compared to NASA short-term exposure limits.

[1] National Research Council. 2008. Managing Space Radiation Risk in the New Era of Space Exploration. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/12045