Physics Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Thales Alenia Space - Italy, Turin, Italy.
Life Sci Space Res (Amst). 2018 Aug;18:1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.lssr.2018.04.002. Epub 2018 Apr 26.
As manned spaceflights beyond low Earth orbit are in the agenda of Space Agencies, the concerns related to space radiation exposure of the crew are still without conclusive solutions. The risk of long-term detrimental health effects needs to be kept below acceptable limits, and emergency countermeasures must be planned to avoid the short-term consequences of exposure to high particle fluxes during hardly predictable solar events. Space habitat shielding cannot be the ultimate solution: the increasing complexity of future missions will require astronauts to protect themselves in low-shielded areas, e.g. during emergency operations. Personal radiation shielding is promising, particularly if using available resources for multi-functional shielding devices. In this work we report on all steps from the conception, design, manufacturing, to the final test on board the International Space Station (ISS) of the first prototype of a water-filled garment for emergency radiation shielding against solar particle events. The garment has a good shielding potential and comfort level. On-board water is used for filling and then recycled without waste. The successful outcome of this experiment represents an important breakthrough in space radiation shielding, opening to the development of similarly conceived devices and their use in interplanetary missions as the one to Mars.
随着载人航天飞行任务进入地球低轨道以外的领域，人们对机组人员在空间辐射环境下的暴露问题仍然存在疑虑。需要将长期的健康风险保持在可接受的限度内，并计划采取紧急应对措施，以避免在难以预测的太阳事件期间暴露于高粒子通量下的短期后果。太空栖息地的屏蔽并不能作为最终的解决方案：未来任务的复杂性不断增加，这将要求宇航员在屏蔽较弱的区域（例如在紧急情况下）保护自己。个人辐射屏蔽是有前途的，特别是如果利用现有资源制造多功能屏蔽设备。在这项工作中，我们报告了从概念设计、制造到最终在国际空间站（ISS）上进行测试的所有步骤，这是一种用于紧急辐射屏蔽的充水服装的第一个原型。该服装具有良好的屏蔽效果和舒适度。在船上使用水进行填充，然后再回收利用，没有浪费。该实验的成功结果代表了空间辐射屏蔽方面的一个重要突破，为类似设计的设备的开发及其在行星际任务（如火星任务）中的应用开辟了道路。
