Calculation of quality factors for space radiation at low Earth orbit: Monte Carlo-based microdosimetric approach.

This study aims to calculate quality factors () for the radiation environment at low Earth orbit using Monte Carlo-based microdosimetric techniques. This study considers Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) ions (= 1-28), trapped protons, and albedo neutrons.is calculated with (2.8 g cmpolyethylene and 10 g cmthick aluminum) and without shielding. FLUKA code is used to model a uniform radiation environment incident on a spherical spacecraft having the above shielding material while a spherical tissue-equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) is positioned at the center of this spherical envelope. The initial fluence spectra of the above radiation fields are based on the OLTARIS code. Microdosimetric distributions in the cavity of the TEPC are calculated separately for GCR ions, trapped protons, and albedo neutrons. Using the microdosimetric distributions,values for these radiations including missionvalues are calculated based on the theory of dual radiation action (TDRA) model, and the formalisms based on ICRP60 and ICRU40.initially increases with theof the ion, but beyond= 22, it becomes insensitive to. Depending on the calculation model, the missionvalue is in the range of 1.91-2.45 for no shielding, 1.67-2.07 for 2.8 g cmpolyethylene shielding, and 1.81-2.48 for 10 g cmaluminum shielding. The microdosimetry-based missionvalues corresponding to 2.8 g cmpolyethylene shielding calculated according to the ICRP60 and ICRU40 models compare well with the published measured values of previous space missions. The calculated TDRA-basedvalues compare well with the values derived from the OLTARIS code. A significant reduction in the dose equivalent is achieved with 10 g cmAl shielding as compared to 2.8 g cmpolyethylene. Overall, the study enhances the understanding of how shielding influencesand dose equivalent.