Department of Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133, Roma, Italy.
INFN Roma Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133, Roma, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 10;7(1):1644. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-01707-2.
Passive radiation shielding is a mandatory element in the design of an integrated solution to mitigate the effects of radiation during long deep space voyages for human exploration. Understanding and exploiting the characteristics of materials suitable for radiation shielding in space flights is, therefore, of primary importance. We present here the results of the first space-test on Kevlar and Polyethylene radiation shielding capabilities including direct measurements of the background baseline (no shield). Measurements are performed on-board of the International Space Station (Columbus modulus) during the ALTEA-shield ESA sponsored program. For the first time the shielding capability of such materials has been tested in a radiation environment similar to the deep-space one, thanks to the feature of the ALTEA system, which allows to select only high latitude orbital tracts of the International Space Station. Polyethylene is widely used for radiation shielding in space and therefore it is an excellent benchmark material to be used in comparative investigations. In this work we show that Kevlar has radiation shielding performances comparable to the Polyethylene ones, reaching a dose rate reduction of 32 ± 2% and a dose equivalent rate reduction of 55 ± 4% (for a shield of 10 g/cm).
被动辐射屏蔽是在人类探索长期深空航行中减轻辐射影响的综合解决方案设计中必不可少的元素。因此，了解和利用适合太空飞行辐射屏蔽的材料特性至关重要。我们在此介绍 Kevlar 和聚乙烯辐射屏蔽能力的首次太空测试结果，包括对背景基线（无屏蔽）的直接测量。这些测量是在国际空间站（哥伦布模块）上进行的，是 ESA 赞助的 ALTEA-shield 计划的一部分。由于 ALTEA 系统的功能，首次在类似于深空的辐射环境中测试了这些材料的屏蔽能力，该系统允许仅选择国际空间站的高纬度轨道轨迹。聚乙烯在太空辐射屏蔽中被广泛使用，因此它是用于比较研究的极佳基准材料。在这项工作中，我们表明 Kevlar 具有与聚乙烯相当的辐射屏蔽性能，达到了 32 ± 2%的剂量率降低和 55 ± 4%的剂量当量率降低（对于 10 g/cm 的屏蔽）。
