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ZL2VAL > SPACE 15.10.03 21:38l 109 Lines 4922 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Space Radiation Shielding
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From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SPACE@WW
October 14, 2003
Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1753)
William Jeffs
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5035)
Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: (256/544-0034)
RELEASE: 03-183
NEW NASA FACILITY WILL HELP PROTECT SPACE CREWS FROM RADIATION
Imagine a human spacecraft crew voyaging through space. A satellite sends a
warning; energetic particles are being accelerated from the sun's corona,
sending dangerous radiation toward their spacecraft, but the crew isn't
worried. Long before their journey, researchers on Earth conducted
experiments to accurately measure the hazards of space radiation and
developed new materials and countermeasures to protect them.
To ensure the safety of spacecraft crews, NASA biologists and physicists
will perform thousands of experiments at the new $34 million NASA Space
Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) commissioned today at the Department of Energy's
(DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. The laboratory, built in
cooperation between NASA and DOE, is one of the few facilities that can
simulate the harsh space radiation environment.
"Scientists will use this facility as a research tool to protect today's
crews on the International Space Station and to enable the next generation
of explorers to safely go beyond Earth's protected neighborhood," said Guy
Fogleman, director of the Bioastronautics Research Division, Office of
Biological and Physical Research (OBPR), at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Space radiation produced by the sun and other galactic sources is more
dangerous and hundreds of times more intense than radiation sources, such as
medical X-rays or normal cosmic radiation, usually experienced on Earth.
When the intensely ionizing particles found in space strike human tissue, it
can result in cell damage and may eventually lead to cancer.
Approximately 80 investigators will conduct research annually at the new
facility. "The NSRL will enable us to triple the ability of researchers to
perform radiobiology experiments and the resulting science knowledge," said
Frank Cucinotta, the program scientist for NASA's Space Radiation Health
Project at Johnson Space Center, Houston. "Scientists at universities and
medical centers across the nation will use the facility to investigate how
space radiation damages cells and tissues such as the eyes, brain and
internal organs," he said.
For each experiment, an accelerator produces beams of protons or heavy ions.
These ions are typical of those accelerated in cosmic sources and by the
sun. The beams of ions move through a 328-foot transport tunnel to the
400-square-foot, shielded target hall. There, they hit the target, which may
be a biological sample or shielding material.
"Physicists will measure how specific particles interact with shielding
material, " said James Adams, the program scientist for the Space Radiation
Shielding Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
"We can use this knowledge to improve our ability to predict the
effectiveness of various materials and to develop and test new materials."
At NSRL, the radiation health team will perform extensive tests with
biological samples placed in the path of the radiation. They will use the
information to understand mechanisms of radiation damage to cells, predict
risks, and develop countermeasures that mitigate radiation effects.
"Advances in radiation detection, shielding and other radiation-mitigation
techniques may be applied to workers in space and on Earth and may lead to
improved use of radiation to treat disease on Earth and prevent
radiation-induced illnesses," Fogleman said.
Since the 1970s, NASA has been using particle accelerators to understand and
mitigate the risks of space radiation. The NSRL will take advantage of the
high-energy particle accelerators at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a DOE
facility established in 1947. Construction of the new facility began in
1998, and was funded in part by NASA's Office of Biological and Physical
Research.
For more information about NASA on the Internet, visit:
<http://www.nasa.gov>
For information about Brookhaven National Laboratory, contact: Mona S. Rowe
at: 631/344-5056, or for information on the Internet, visit:
<http://www.bnl.gov>
==============================
73 de Alan
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Brain Cramps
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are the president."
- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.
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