title: Contribution of cosmic ray heavy ions to the radiation hazard in manned space flights.
abstract: Primary cosmic radiation arriving near the Earth may be classified into two general categories: the gamma component and the hadronic component. The hadronic component contains mainly protons, a small amount of alpha particles and a smaller amount of heavier charged nuclei (ions). Although the fluxes of these heavier ions are very small in comparison to those of protons, they are able to originate a huge linear energy transfer (LET). This work studies the contribution of heavy ions from cosmic rays to the radiation hazard to which the crew of a manned long duration space flight might be exposed. The geometry of the energy deposition by a heavy ion is studied, and it is found that energies of the order of up to 10(23) J kg-1 are deposited.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Fisica, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Domingo
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Font
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baixeras
authors.forename: L l
authors.initials: Ll
authors.lastname: Font
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernandez
mesh_terms: D003359:Cosmic Radiation; D020450:Heavy Ions; D007854:Lead; D018499:Linear Energy Transfer; D010984:Platinum; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection; D011853:Radiobiology; D011874:Radiometry; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013026:Space Flight
chemical_list: D007854:Lead; D010984:Platinum