The Mobile Dosimetric Telescope (MDT) - Development of a small size active personal dosimeter for application at high altitudes and onboard the International Space Station
Abstract
The radiation environment in space poses one of the main health risks for long duration human missions as it differs significantly from the natural radiation environment on Earth. Therefore, it is essential to monitor the properties of the radiation field in such environments. The aim of this work is to develop a small size battery driven personal dosimeter, based on silicon detector technology. Two silicon detectors are arranged in a telescope configuration, which allows the measurement of the ionizing constituents of the field and partially of the neutral contribution to the dose. The absorbed dose is obtained by measuring every particle in either of the detectors. Additionally, particles traversing both diodes are detected as coincidences. From these measurements linear energy transfer (LET) spectra will be generated from which the quality factor of the field will be determined. Quality factor times absorbed dose in the detector gives the dose equivalent - a central quantity in radiation protection. Calibrations of the detector system have been and will further be performed with various radioactive sources, and with heavy ions at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC) facility at NIRS in Chiba, Japan.
- Publication:
-
39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012cosp...39.1615R