Radiation level upon entry into space. Abstract: “Cosmic radiation

The text presented below should be regarded as the personal opinion of the author. He does not have any secret information (or access to it). Everything that is presented is facts from open sources plus a little common sense (“couch analytics”, if you like).

Science fiction - all those blasters and pew-pews in outer space in tiny single-seat fighters - has taught humanity to seriously overestimate the benevolence of the Universe towards warm protein organisms. This is especially evident when science fiction writers describe travel to other planets. Alas, the exploration of “real space” instead of the usual several hundred “kames” is protected magnetic field Land will be a more difficult undertaking than the average person imagined just a decade ago.

So here's my main point. The psychological climate and conflicts within the crew are far from the main problems that people will face when organizing manned flights to Mars.

The main problem of a person traveling beyond the Earth's magnetosphere- a problem with capital letters"R".

What is cosmic radiation and why we don’t die from it on Earth

Ionizing radiation in space (beyond the few hundred kilometers of near-Earth space that humans have actually mastered) consists of two parts.

Radiation from the Sun. This is, first of all, the “solar wind” - a stream of particles that constantly “blows” in all directions from the star and which is extremely good for future space sailing ships, because it will allow them to properly accelerate for travel beyond solar system. But for living beings, the main part of this wind is not particularly useful. It’s great that they protect us from harsh radiation thick layer atmosphere, the ionosphere (the one where the ozone holes are), and also the powerful magnetic field of the Earth.

In addition to the wind, which scatters more or less evenly, our star also periodically shoots so-called solar flares. The latter are ejections of coronal matter from the Sun. They are so serious that from time to time they lead to problems for people and technology even on Earth, where the most fun, I repeat, is well screened.

So, we have the atmosphere and magnetic field of the planet. In already quite close space, at a distance of ten or two thousand kilometers from the Earth, a solar flare (even a weak one, just a couple of Hiroshimas), hitting a ship, is guaranteed to disable its living filling without the slightest chance of survival. We have absolutely nothing to prevent this today - at the current level of development of technologies and materials. For this and only for this reason, humanity will have to postpone the months-long journey to Mars until we solve this problem at least partially. You will also have to plan it during periods of calmest sun and pray a lot to all the technical gods.

Cosmic rays. These ubiquitous villainous things carry great amount energy (more than what the LHC can pump into a particle). They come from other parts of our galaxy. Getting into the shield of the earth’s atmosphere, such a beam interacts with its atoms and breaks down into dozens of less energetic particles, which cascade into streams of even less energetic (but also dangerous) ones, and as a result, all this splendor is shed as radiation rain on the surface of the planet. Approximately 15% of background radiation on Earth comes from visitors from space. The higher you live above sea level, the higher the dose you catch during your life. And this happens around the clock.

As school exercise try to imagine what will happen to a spaceship and its “living contents” if they are directly hit by such a beam somewhere in outer space. Let me remind you that the flight to Mars will take several months, a hefty ship will have to be built for this, and the likelihood of the “contact” described above (or even more than one) is quite high. Unfortunately, it is simply impossible to ignore it during long flights with a live crew.

What else?

In addition to the radiation that reaches the Earth from the Sun, there is also solar radiation, which the planet’s magnetosphere repels, does not let in, and, most importantly, accumulates*. Meet the readers. This is the Earth's radiation belt (ERB). It is also known as the Van Allen belt, as it is called abroad. The astronauts will have to overcome it, as they say, “at full speed”, so as not to receive a lethal dose of radiation in just a few hours. Repeated contact with this belt - if we, contrary to common sense, decide to return astronauts from Mars to Earth - could easily finish them off.

*A significant proportion of Van Allen belt particles acquire dangerous speeds already in the belt itself. That is, it not only protects us from radiation from the outside, but also enhances this accumulated radiation.

So far we have been talking about outer space. But we must not forget that Mars (unlike Earth) has almost no magnetic field**, and the atmosphere is thin and thin, so people will be exposed to these negative factors not only in flight.

**Okay, there's a little- near the south pole.

Hence the conclusion. Future colonists will most likely live not on the surface of the planet (as we were shown in the epic movie “Mission to Mars”), but deep down. underneath it.

What should I do?

First of all, apparently, do not harbor illusions that all these problems will be resolved quickly (within a dozen or two or three years). To avoid the death of the crew from radiation sickness, we will either have to not send them there at all and explore space with the help of smart machines (by the way, not the stupidest decision), or we will have to work very hard, because if I am right, then sending people to Mars with creating a permanent colony there is a completely impossible task for one country (even the USA, even Russia, even China) in the next half century, or even longer. One ship for such a mission will cost an amount equivalent to the construction and full maintenance of a couple of ISS (see below).

And yes, I forgot to say: the pioneers of Mars will obviously be “suicide bombers”, since there is no way back, no long and comfortable life on Mars, we will most likely be able to provide them with them in the next half century.

What could a mission to Mars theoretically look like if we had all the resources and technologies of old Earth? Compare what is described below with what you saw in the cult film “The Martian”.

Mission to Mars. Conditionally realistic version

Firstly, humanity will have to work hard and build a cyclopean-sized spaceship with powerful anti-radiation protection, which can partially compensate for the hellish radiation load on the crew outside the Earth’s magnetic field and ensure the delivery of more or less living colonists to Mars - one way.

What might such a ship look like?

This is a hefty colossus tens (or better yet hundreds) of meters in diameter, provided with its own magnetic field (superconducting electromagnets) and energy sources to maintain it ( nuclear reactors). The huge dimensions of the structure make it possible to fill it from the inside with radiation-absorbing materials (for example, it can be leaded foam plastic or sealed containers with simple or “heavy” water), which will have to be transported into orbit for decades (!) and mounted around a relatively tiny life support capsule, where then we will place the astronauts.

In addition to its size and high cost, the Martian ship must be damn reliable and, most importantly, completely autonomous in terms of control. To deliver the crew alive, the safest thing to do would be to put them in an artificial coma and cool them a little (just a couple of degrees) to slow down metabolic processes. In this state, people a) will be less sensitive to radiation, b) take up less space and are cheaper to shield from the same radiation.

Obviously, in addition to the ship, we need artificial intelligence that can confidently deliver the ship into Mars orbit, unload the colonists onto its surface without damaging either itself or the cargo in the process, and then, without the participation of people, return the astronauts to consciousness (already on Mars). We don’t have such technologies yet, but there is some hope that such AI, and most importantly the political and economic resources for building the described ship, will appear in our country, say, closer to the middle of the century.

The good news is that the Martian “ferry” for colonists may well be reusable. He will have to travel like a shuttle between Earth and the final destination, delivering shipments of “living cargo” to the colony to replace those who left natural causes" of people. To deliver “non-living” cargo (food, water, air and equipment), radiation protection is not particularly needed, so it is not necessary to make a supership into a Martian truck. It is needed solely for the delivery of colonists and possibly plant seeds / young farm animals.

Secondly, it is necessary to send equipment and supplies of water, food and oxygen to Mars in advance for a crew of 6-12 people for 12-15 years (taking into account all force majeure). This in itself is a non-trivial problem, but let’s assume that we are not limited in resources to solve it. Let’s assume that the wars and political upheavals on Earth have subsided, and the entire planet is working in unison for the Martian mission.

The equipment being thrown to Mars, as you should have guessed, is a fully autonomous robot with artificial intelligence and powered by compact nuclear reactors. They will have to methodically, over the course of ten to one and a half years, first dig a deep tunnel under the surface of the red planet. Then - in a few more years - a small network of tunnels, into which life support units and supplies for a future expedition will have to be dragged, and then all this will be hermetically assembled into an autonomous sub-Martian village.

The metro-like abode seems optimal solution for two reasons. Firstly, it shields astronauts from cosmic rays already on Mars itself. Secondly, due to the residual “marsothermal” activity of the subsurface of the planet, it is a degree or two warmer than outside. This will be useful to the colonists both for saving energy and for growing potatoes on their own feces.

Let us clarify an important point: the colony will have to be built in the southern hemisphere, where there is still a residual magnetic field on the planet.

Ideally, astronauts will not have to go to the surface at all (they will either not see Mars “live” at all, or they will see it once - during landing). All the work on the surface will have to be done by robots, whose actions the colonists will have to direct from their bunker all their short life(twenty years under a fortunate combination of circumstances).

Third, we need to talk about the crew itself and the methods for selecting it.

The ideal scheme for the latter would be to search the entire Earth for... genetically identical (monozygotic) twins, one of whom has just turned into an organ donor (for example, having “luckily” been in a car accident). It sounds extremely cynical, but don’t let that stop you from reading the text to the end.

What does a donor twin give us?

A dead twin gives his brother (or sister) the opportunity to become an ideal colonist on Mars. The fact is that the red bone marrow of the first, being delivered to the red planet in a container additionally protected from radiation, can be transfused into the astronaut twin. This increases the chances of his survival from radiation sickness, acute leukemia and other troubles that are very likely to happen to the colonist during the years of the mission.

So, what does the screening process for future colonists look like?

We select several million twins. We wait until something happens to one of them and make an offer to the remaining one. A pool of, say, one hundred thousand potential candidates is recruited. Now, within this pool, we conduct a final selection for psychological compatibility and professional suitability.

Naturally, to expand the sample, astronauts will have to be selected throughout the Earth, and not in one or two countries.

Of course, some technology for identifying candidates that are particularly resistant to radiation would be a great help. It is known that some people are much more resistant to radiation than others. Surely it can be identified using certain genetic markers. If we complement the idea with twins with this method, together they should significantly increase the survival rate of Martian colonists.

In addition, it would be useful to learn how to transfuse bone marrow to people in zero gravity. This is not the only thing that needs to be invented specifically for this project, but, fortunately, we still have time, and the ISS is still hanging out in Earth orbit as if specifically for testing such technologies.

PS. I must specifically make a reservation that the principled enemy space travel I am not and I believe that sooner or later “space will be ours.” The only question is the price of this success, as well as the time that humanity will spend developing the necessary technologies. It seems to me that, under the influence of science fiction and popular culture, many of us are quite careless in terms of understanding the difficulties that must be overcome along the way. To make this part a little more sobering« cosmo-optimists» and this text was written.

In parts I will tell you what other options we have regarding human space exploration in the long term.

Even if interplanetary flights were a reality, scientists are increasingly saying that more and more dangers await the human body from a purely biological point of view. Experts call hard cosmic radiation one of the main dangers. On other planets, for example on Mars, this radiation will be such that it will significantly accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

"Cosmic radiation poses a very significant threat to future astronauts. The possibility that cosmic radiation exposure could lead to health problems such as cancer has long been recognized," says Kerry O'Banion, a neuroscience doctor from Medical center at the University of Rochester. "Our experiments also reliably established that hard radiation also provokes an acceleration of changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease."

According to scientists, all outer space is literally permeated with radiation, while the thick earth's atmosphere protects our planet from it. Participants in short-term flights to the ISS can already feel the effects of radiation, although formally they are in low orbit, where the protective dome of Earth’s gravity is still working. Radiation is especially active at those moments when flares occur on the Sun with subsequent emissions of radiation particles.

Scientists say that NASA is already working closely on different approaches related to human protection from cosmic radiation. The space agency first began funding “radiation research” 25 years ago. Now Substantial part initiatives in this area involve research into how to protect future marsonauts from harsh radiation on the Red Planet, which does not have the same atmospheric dome as on Earth.

Already, experts say with a very high probability that Martian radiation provokes cancer. There are even larger amounts of radiation near asteroids. Let us remind you that NASA plans a mission to an asteroid with human participation for 2021, and to Mars no later than 2035. A trip to Mars and back, with some time spent there, could take about three years.

As NASA said, it has now been proven that space radiation provokes, in addition to cancer, diseases of the cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal and endocrine. Now experts from Rochester have identified another vector of danger: research has found that high doses of cosmic radiation provoke diseases associated with neurodegeneration, in particular, they activate processes that contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease. Experts also studied how cosmic radiation affects the central nervous system person.

Based on experiments, experts have established that radioactive particles in space have in their structure the nuclei of iron atoms, which have phenomenal penetrating ability. This is why it is surprisingly difficult to defend against them.

On Earth, researchers simulated cosmic radiation at the American Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, where a special accelerator is located elementary particles. Through experiments, researchers determined the time frame during which the disease occurs and progresses. However, so far the researchers have been conducting experiments on laboratory mice, exposing them to doses of radiation comparable to those that people would receive during a flight to Mars. After the experiments, almost all the mice suffered disturbances in the functioning of the cognitive system of the brain. Disturbances in the functioning of the cardiovascular system were also noted. Foci of accumulation of beta-amyloid, a protein that is a sure sign of impending Alzheimer's disease, have been identified in the brain.

Scientists say they don't yet know how to combat space radiation, but they are confident that radiation is a factor that deserves the most serious attention when planning future space flights.

One of the main negative biological factors outer space, along with weightlessness, is radiation. But if the situation with weightlessness on various bodies of the Solar System (for example, on the Moon or Mars) will be better than on the ISS, then with radiation things are more complicated.

According to its origin, cosmic radiation is of two types. It consists of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and heavy positively charged protons emanating from the Sun. These two types of radiation interact with each other. During solar activity, the intensity of galactic rays decreases, and vice versa. Our planet is protected from the solar wind by a magnetic field. Despite this, some charged particles reach the atmosphere. The result is a phenomenon known as the aurora. High-energy GCRs are almost not delayed by the magnetosphere, but they do not reach the Earth's surface in dangerous quantities due to its dense atmosphere. The ISS orbit is above the dense layers of the atmosphere, but inside the Earth's radiation belts. Because of this, the level of cosmic radiation at the station is much higher than on Earth, but significantly lower than in outer space. In terms of its protective properties, the Earth's atmosphere is approximately equivalent to an 80-centimeter layer of lead.

The only reliable source of radiation dose that can be received during long-duration spaceflight and on the surface of Mars is the RAD instrument at the Mars Science Laboratory, better known as Curiosity. To understand how accurate the data it collects is, let's first look at the ISS.

In September 2013, the journal Science published an article on the results of the RAD tool. On a comparative graph built by the Laboratory jet propulsion NASA (organization not associated with experiments conducted on the ISS, but works with the RAD instrument Curiosity rover), it is indicated that during a six-month stay on a near-Earth space station, a person receives a radiation dose approximately equal to 80 mSv (millisievert). But the Oxford University publication from 2006 (ISBN 978-0-19-513725-5) states that an astronaut on the ISS receives an average of 1 mSv per day, i.e. the six-month dose should be 180 mSv. As a result, we see a huge scatter in estimates of the level of radiation in the long-studied low Earth orbit.

The main solar cycles have a period of 11 years, and since the GCR and solar wind are interconnected, for statistically reliable observations it is necessary to study radiation data at different parts of the solar cycle. Unfortunately, as stated above, all of the data we have on radiation in outer space was collected during the first eight months of 2012 by MSL on its way to Mars. Information about radiation on the surface of the planet was accumulated by him over the subsequent years. This does not mean that the data is incorrect. You just need to understand that they can only reflect the characteristics of a limited period of time.

The latest data from the RAD tool was published in 2014. According to scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, during a six-month stay on the surface of Mars, a person will receive an average radiation dose of about 120 mSv. This figure is halfway between the lower and upper estimates of the radiation dose on the ISS. During the flight to Mars, if it also takes six months, the radiation dose will be 350 mSv, i.e. 2-4.5 times more than on the ISS. During its flight, MSL experienced five solar flares of moderate power. We do not know for sure what radiation dose astronauts will receive on the Moon, since no experiments were conducted that specifically studied cosmic radiation during the Apollo program. Its effects have been studied only in conjunction with the effects of other negative phenomena, such as the influence of lunar dust. However, it can be assumed that the dose will be higher than on Mars, since the Moon is not protected even by a weak atmosphere, but lower than in outer space, since a person on the Moon will be irradiated only “from above” and “from the sides” , but not from under your feet./

In conclusion, it can be noted that radiation is a problem that will definitely require a solution in the event of colonization of the Solar System. However, it is widely believed that the radiation situation outside the Earth’s magnetosphere does not allow long-term space flights, is simply not true. For a flight to Mars, it will be necessary to install a protective coating either on the entire residential module of the space flight complex, or on a separate, especially protected “storm” compartment, in which astronauts can wait out proton showers. This does not mean that developers will have to use complex anti-radiation systems. To significantly reduce the level of radiation exposure, it is enough thermal insulation coating, which is used on spacecraft descent vehicles to protect against overheating during braking in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Space ribbon

Who hasn’t dreamed of flying into space, even knowing what cosmic radiation is? At least fly to Earth orbit or to the Moon, or even better - further away, to some Orion. In fact, the human body is very little adapted to such travel. Even when flying into orbit, astronauts face many dangers that threaten their health and sometimes their lives. Everyone watched the cult TV series Star Trek. One of the wonderful characters there gave a very accurate description of the phenomenon of cosmic radiation. “It's danger and disease in darkness and silence,” said Leonard McCoy, aka Bony, aka Bonesetter. It is very difficult to be more precise. Cosmic radiation during travel will make a person tired, weak, sick, and suffering from depression.

Feelings in flight

The human body is not adapted to life in airless space, since evolution did not include such abilities in its arsenal. Books have been written about this, this issue is studied in detail by medicine, centers have been created all over the world to study the problems of medicine in space, in extreme conditions, at high altitudes. Of course, it’s funny to watch an astronaut smile on the screen while they float in the air various items. In fact, his expedition is much more serious and fraught with consequences than it seems to an ordinary inhabitant from Earth, and it is not only cosmic radiation that creates trouble.

At the request of journalists, astronauts, engineers, scientists, who have experienced first-hand everything that happens to a person in space, spoke about the sequence of various new sensations in an artificially created environment alien to the body. Literally ten seconds after the start of the flight, an unprepared person loses consciousness because the acceleration of the spacecraft increases, separating it from the launch complex. A person does not yet feel as strongly as in outer space cosmic rays- radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere of our planet.

Major troubles

But there are also enough overloads: a person becomes four times heavier than his own weight, he is literally pressed into a chair, it is difficult to even move his arm. Everyone has seen these special chairs, for example, in spacecraft"Union". But not everyone understood why the astronaut had such a strange pose. However, it is necessary because overloads send almost all the blood in the body down to the legs, and the brain is left without blood supply, which is why fainting occurs. But a chair invented in the Soviet Union helps to avoid at least this trouble: the position with raised legs forces the blood to supply oxygen to all parts of the brain.

Ten minutes after the start of the flight, the lack of gravity will cause a person to almost lose their sense of balance, orientation and coordination in space; a person may not even be able to track moving objects. He feels nauseous and vomits. Cosmic rays can cause the same thing - the radiation here is already much stronger, and if there is a plasma ejection into the sun, the threat to the lives of astronauts in orbit is real, even airline passengers can suffer in flight at high altitude. Vision changes, swelling and changes occur in the retina of the eyes, and the eyeball becomes deformed. A person becomes weak and cannot complete the tasks that are assigned to him.

Puzzles

However, from time to time people also feel high cosmic radiation on Earth; for this they do not necessarily have to travel into outer space. Our planet is constantly bombarded by rays of cosmic origin, and scientists suggest that our atmosphere does not always provide sufficient protection. There are many theories that give these energetic particles a power that greatly limits the chances of planets having life on them. In many ways, the nature of these cosmic rays is still an insoluble mystery for our scientists.

Subatomic charged particles in space move almost at the speed of light, they have already been recorded several times on satellites, and even on These nuclei chemical elements, protons, electrons, photons and neutrinos. It is also possible that particles - heavy and superheavy - may be present in the attack of cosmic radiation. If they could be discovered, a number of contradictions in cosmological and astronomical observations would be resolved.

Atmosphere

What protects us from cosmic radiation? Only our atmosphere. Cosmic rays, threatening the death of all living things, collide in it and generate streams of other particles - harmless, including muons, much heavier relatives of electrons. A potential danger still exists, since some particles reach the Earth's surface and penetrate many tens of meters into its depths. The level of radiation that any planet receives indicates its suitability or unsuitability for life. The high energy that cosmic rays carry with them far exceeds the radiation from its own star, because the energy of protons and photons, for example, of our Sun, is lower.

And with high life is impossible. On Earth, this dose is controlled by the strength of the planet’s magnetic field and the thickness of the atmosphere; they significantly reduce the danger of cosmic radiation. For example, there could well be life on Mars, but the atmosphere there is negligible, there is no magnetic field of its own, and therefore there is no protection from cosmic rays that penetrate the entire space. The level of radiation on Mars is enormous. And the influence of cosmic radiation on the planet’s biosphere is such that all life on it dies.

What's more important?

We are lucky, we have both a thick atmosphere enveloping the Earth and our own fairly powerful magnetic field that absorbs harmful particles that reach earth's crust. I wonder whose protection for the planet works more actively - the atmosphere or the magnetic field? Researchers are experimenting by creating models of planets, either providing them with a magnetic field or not. And the magnetic field itself differs in strength between these models of planets. Previously, scientists were sure that it was the main protection against cosmic radiation, since they controlled its level on the surface. However, it was discovered that the amount of radiation is determined to a greater extent by the thickness of the atmosphere that covers the planet.

If the magnetic field on Earth is “turned off,” the radiation dose will only double. This is a lot, but even for us it will have a rather insignificant effect. And if you leave the magnetic field and remove the atmosphere to one tenth of its total amount, then the dose will increase deadly - by two orders of magnitude. Terrible cosmic radiation will kill everything and everyone on Earth. Our Sun is a yellow dwarf star, and it is around them that the planets are considered the main contenders for habitability. These stars are relatively dim, there are many of them, about eighty percent of the total number of stars in our Universe.

Space and evolution

Theorists have calculated that such planets orbiting yellow dwarfs, which are in zones suitable for life, have much weaker magnetic fields. This is especially true for the so-called super-Earths - large rocky planets with a mass ten times greater than our Earth. Astrobiologists were confident that weak magnetic fields significantly reduced the chances of habitability. And now new discoveries suggest that this is not so big problem, as we used to think. The main thing would be the atmosphere.

Scientists are comprehensively studying the effect of increasing radiation on existing living organisms - animals, as well as on a variety of plants. Radiation-related research involves exposing them to varying degrees of radiation, from low to extreme levels, and then determining whether they will survive and how differently they will feel if they do. Microorganisms affected by gradually increasing radiation may show us how evolution took place on Earth. It was cosmic rays and their high radiation that once forced the future man to get off the palm tree and study space. And humanity will never return to the trees again.

Cosmic radiation 2017

At the beginning of September 2017, our entire planet was greatly alarmed. The Sun suddenly ejected tons of solar material after two large groups of dark spots merged. And this emission was accompanied by X-class flares, which forced the planet’s magnetic field to literally wear out. A large magnetic storm followed, causing illness in many people, as well as extremely rare, almost unprecedented natural phenomena on the ground. For example, near Moscow and Novosibirsk, powerful images of the northern lights were recorded that had never been seen in these latitudes. However, the beauty of such phenomena did not obscure the consequences of a deadly solar flare that permeated the planet with cosmic radiation, which turned out to be truly dangerous.

Its power was close to the maximum, X-9.3, where the letter is the class (extremely large flash), and the number is the flash strength (out of ten possible). Along with this emission, there was a threat of failure of space communication systems and all equipment on board. The astronauts were forced to wait out this stream of terrible cosmic radiation carried by cosmic rays in a special shelter. The quality of communications during these two days deteriorated significantly in both Europe and America, precisely where the flow of charged particles from space was directed. About a day before the particles reached the Earth's surface, a warning was issued about cosmic radiation, which sounded on every continent and in every country.

Power of the Sun

The energy emitted by our star into the surrounding space is truly enormous. Within a few minutes, many billions of megatons, if calculated in TNT equivalent, fly into space. Humanity will be able to produce so much energy at current rates only in a million years. Just a fifth of the total energy emitted by the Sun per second. And this is our small and not too hot dwarf! If you just imagine how much destructive energy other sources of cosmic radiation produce, next to which our Sun will seem like an almost invisible grain of sand, your head will spin. What a blessing that we have a good magnetic field and an excellent atmosphere that prevent us from dying!

People are exposed to such danger every day, since radioactive radiation in space never runs out. It is from there that most of the radiation comes to us - from black holes and from clusters of stars. It is capable of killing with a large dose of radiation, and with a small dose it can turn us into mutants. However, we must also remember that evolution on Earth occurred thanks to such flows; radiation changed the structure of DNA to the state that we see today. If we go through this “medicine”, that is, if the radiation emitted by stars exceeds permissible levels, the processes will be irreversible. After all, if creatures mutate, they will not return to their original state; there is no reverse effect here. Therefore, we will never again see those living organisms that were present in the newborn life on Earth. Any organism tries to adapt to changes occurring in environment. Either he dies or he adapts. But there is no turning back.

ISS and solar flare

When the Sun sent us its greeting with a stream of charged particles, the ISS was just passing between the Earth and the star. The high-energy protons released during the explosion created a completely undesirable background radiation within the station. These particles penetrate through absolutely any spaceship. Nevertheless, space technology this radiation was spared as the impact was powerful but too short to incapacitate her. However, the crew was hiding in a special shelter all this time, because the human body is much more vulnerable than modern technology. There was not just one flare, they came in a whole series, and it all started on September 4, 2017, in order to shake the cosmos with an extreme emission on September 6. Over the past twelve years, a stronger flow has not yet been observed on Earth. The cloud of plasma that was ejected by the Sun overtook the Earth much earlier than planned, which means that the speed and power of the flow exceeded the expected one and a half times. Accordingly, the impact on the Earth was much stronger than expected. The cloud was twelve hours ahead of all the calculations of our scientists, and accordingly more disturbed the planet’s magnetic field.

The power of the magnetic storm turned out to be four out of five possible, that is, ten times more than expected. In Canada, auroras were also observed even in mid-latitudes, as in Russia. A planetary magnetic storm occurred on Earth. You can imagine what was going on there in space! Radiation is the most significant danger of all existing there. Protection from it is needed immediately, as soon as the spacecraft leaves the upper atmosphere and leaves magnetic fields far below. Streams of uncharged and charged particles - radiation - constantly permeate space. The same conditions await us on any planet in the solar system: there is no magnetic field or atmosphere on our planets.

Types of radiation

In space, ionizing radiation is considered the most dangerous. These are gamma radiation and X-rays from the Sun, these are particles flying after chromospheric solar flares, these are extragalactic, galactic and solar cosmic rays, solar wind, protons and electrons of radiation belts, alpha particles and neutrons. There is also non-ionizing radiation - this is ultraviolet and infrared radiation from the Sun, this is electromagnetic radiation and visible light. There is no great danger in them. We are protected by the atmosphere, and the astronaut is protected by a space suit and the skin of the ship.

Ionizing radiation causes irreparable harm. This is a harmful effect on everything life processes, which flow into human body. When a high-energy particle or photon passes through a substance in its path, it forms a pair of charged particles called an ion as a result of interaction with this substance. This affects even nonliving matter, and living matter reacts most violently, since the organization of highly specialized cells requires renewal, and this process occurs dynamically as long as the organism is alive. And the higher the level evolutionary development body, the more irreversible the radiation damage becomes.

Radiation protection

Scientists are looking for such tools in a variety of areas modern science, including in pharmacology. So far no drug effective results does not work, and people exposed to radiation continue to die. Experiments are carried out on animals both on earth and in space. The only thing that became clear was that any drug should be taken by a person before the start of radiation, and not after.

And if we take into account that all such drugs are toxic, then we can assume that the fight against the effects of radiation has not yet led to a single victory. Even if pharmacological agents are taken on time, they provide protection only from gamma radiation and x-rays, but do not protect against ionizing radiation from protons, alpha particles and fast neutrons.

Russian philosopher N.F. Fedorov (1828 - 1903) was the first to declare that people face the path to the exploration of all outer space as a strategic path for the development of mankind. He drew attention to the fact that only such a vast area is capable of attracting to itself all the spiritual energy, all the forces of humanity, which are wasted on mutual friction or wasted on trifles. ... His idea about the reorientation of industrial and scientific potential military-industrial complex for the research and development of space, including deep space, can radically reduce the military danger in the world. In order for this to happen in practice, it must first happen in the minds of the people who make global decisions in the first place. ...

Various difficulties arise on the path to space exploration. The main obstacle supposedly comes to the fore is the problem of radiation, here is a list of publications about this:

01/29/2004, newspaper “Trud”, “Irradiation in orbit”;
("And here are the sad statistics. Of our 98 cosmonauts who flew, eighteen are no longer alive, that is, every fifth. Of these, four died upon returning to Earth, Gagarin in a plane crash. Four died of cancer (Anatoly Levchenko was 47 years old, Vladimir Vasyutin - 50...).")

2. During the 254 days of the Curiosity rover’s flight to Mars, the radiation dose was more than 1 Sv, i.e. on average more than 4 mSv/day.

3. When astronauts fly around the Earth, the radiation dose ranges from 0.3 to 0.8 mSv/day ()

4. Since the discovery of radiation, its scientific study and practical mass development by industry, a huge amount has been accumulated, including the effects of radiation on the human body.
To connect an astronaut’s illness with exposure to space radiation, it is necessary to compare the incidence of astronauts who flew into space with the incidence of astronauts in the control group who had not been in space.

5. The space Internet encyclopedia www.astronaut.ru contains all the information on cosmonauts, astronauts and taikonauts who flew into space, as well as candidates selected for flights, but who did not fly into space.
Using these data, I compiled a summary table for the USSR/Russia with personal raids, dates of birth and death, causes of death, etc.
Summarized data is presented in the table:

	In the database space encyclopedias, Human	They live Human	Died for all reasons Human	Died from cancer, Human
We flew into space	116 , of them 28 - with flying time up to 15 days, 45 - with flight time from 16 to 200 days, 43 - with flight time from 201 to 802 days	87 (average age - 61 years) of them 61 retired	29 (25%) average age - 61 years	7 (6%), of them 3 - with flying time of 1-2 days, 3 - with flying time 16-81 days 1 - with 269 days of flying time
Didn't fly into space	158	101 (average age - 63 years) of them 88 retired	57 (36%) average age - 59 years	11 (7%)

There are no significant and obvious differences between the group of people who flew into space and the control group.
Of the 116 people in the USSR/Russia who flew into space at least once, 67 people had individual space flight time of more than 100 days (maximum 803 days), 3 of them died at 64, 68 and 69 years old. One of the deceased had cancer. The rest are alive as of November 2013, including 20 cosmonauts with maximum flight hours (from 382 to 802 days) with doses (210 - 440 mSv) with an average daily dose of 0.55 mSv. This confirms the radiation safety of long-term space flights.

6. There is also a lot of other data on the health of people who received increased doses of radiation exposure during the years of the creation of the nuclear industry in the USSR. Thus, “at PA Mayak”: “In 1950-1952. dose rates of external gamma (radiation near technological devices reached 15-180 mR/h. Annual doses of external radiation for 600 observed plant workers were 1.4-1.9 Sv/year. In some cases, the maximum annual doses of external radiation reached 7-8 Sv/year...
Of the 2,300 workers who suffered chronic radiation sickness, after 40-50 years of observation, 1,200 people remain alive with an average total dose of 2.6 Gy at an average age of 75 years. And out of 1100 deaths (average dose 3.1 Gy), in the structure of causes of death there is a noticeable increase in the proportion of malignant tumors, but also their average age was 65 years old."
“Problems of nuclear legacy and ways to solve them.” - Under general edition E.V. Evstratova, A.M. Agapova, N.P. Laverova, L.A. Bolshova, I.I. Linge. — 2012 — 356 p. - T1. (download)

7. “...extensive research involving approximately 100,000 survivors atomic bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, showed that so far cancer is the only cause of increased mortality in this population group.
“However, at the same time, the development of cancer under the influence of radiation is not specific; it can also be caused by other natural or man-made factors (smoking, pollution of air, water, products with chemicals, etc.). Radiation only increases the risk that exists without it. For example, Russian doctors believe that the contribution of poor nutrition to the development of cancer is 35%, and smoking - 31%. And the contribution of radiation, even with serious exposure, is no more than 10%."()


(source: “Liquidators. Radiological consequences of Chernobyl”, V. Ivanov, Moscow, 2010 (download)

8. “In modern medicine, radiotherapy is one of the three key methods of treating cancer (the other two are chemotherapy and traditional surgery). At the same time, if you start from gravity side effects, radiation therapy is much easier to tolerate. In especially severe cases, patients can receive a very high total dose - up to 6 grays (despite the fact that a dose of about 7-8 grays is lethal!). But even with such a huge dose, when the patient recovers, he often returns to a full life healthy person- even children born to former patients of radiation therapy clinics do not show any signs of congenital genetic abnormalities associated with radiation.
If you carefully consider and weigh the facts, then such a phenomenon as radiophobia - an irrational fear of radiation and everything connected with it - becomes completely illogical. Indeed: people believe that something terrible has happened when the dosimeter display shows at least two times the natural background - and at the same time they gladly go to improve their health at radon sources, where the background can be exceeded ten or more times. Large doses of ionizing radiation cure patients with fatal diseases - and at the same time, a person accidentally exposed to the radiation field clearly attributes the deterioration in his health (if such a deterioration occurs at all) to the effects of radiation.” ("Radiation in Medicine", Yu.S. Koryakovsky, A.A. Akatov, Moscow, 2009)
Mortality statistics show that every third person in Europe dies from various types of cancer.
One of the main methods of treating malignant tumors is radiation therapy, which is necessary for approximately 70% of cancer patients, while in Russia only about 25% of those in need receive it. ()

Based on all the accumulated data, we can safely say: the problem of radiation during space exploration is greatly exaggerated and the road to space exploration is open for humanity.

P.S. The article was published in the professional magazine "Atomic Strategy", and before that it was evaluated by a number of specialists on the magazine's website. Here is the most informative comment received there: " What is cosmic radiation. This is Solar + Galactic radiation. The Solar one is many times more intense than the Galactic one, especially during solar activity. This is what determines the main dose. Its component and energy composition– protons (90%) and the rest less significant (electr., gamma,...). The energy of the main fraction of protons is from keV to 80-90 MeV. (There is also a high-energy tail, but this is already a fraction of a percent.) The range of an 80 MeV proton is ~7 (g/cm^2) or about 2.5 cm of aluminum. Those. in the wall spaceship 2.5-3 cm thick they are completely absorbed. Although protons are generated in nuclear reactions aluminum produces neutrons, but the generation efficiency is low. Thus, the dose rate behind the ship's skin is quite high (since the flux-dose conversion coefficient for protons of the indicated energies is very large). And inside the level is quite acceptable, although higher than on Earth. A thoughtful and meticulous reader will immediately ask sarcastically - What about on the plane? After all, the dose rate there is much higher than on Earth. The answer is correct. The explanation is simple. High-energy solar and galactic protons and nuclei interact with atmospheric nuclei (reactions of multiple hadron production), causing a hadron cascade (shower). Therefore, the altitude distribution of the flux density of ionizing particles in the atmosphere has a maximum. It's the same with the electron-photon shower. Hadronic and e-g showers develop and are extinguished in the atmosphere. The thickness of the atmosphere is ~80-100 g/cm^2 (equivalent to 200 cm of concrete or 50 cm of iron.) And in the lining there is not enough substance to form a good shower. Hence the apparent paradox - the thicker the ship’s protection, the higher the dose rate inside. Therefore, thin protection is better than thick. But! 2-3 cm protection is required (reduces the dose from protons by an order of magnitude). Now for the numbers. On Mars, the Curiosity dosimeter accumulated about 1 Sv in almost a year. Cause enough high dose– the dosimeter did not have a thin protective screen, which was mentioned above. But still, is 1 Sv too much or too little? Is it fatal? A couple of my friends, liquidators, each gained about 100 R (of course in gamma, and in terms of hadrons - somewhere around 1 Sv). They feel better than you and me. Not disabled. Official approach regulatory documents. - With the permission of the territorial state sanitary inspection bodies, you can receive the planned dose of 0.2 Sv in a year. (That is, comparable to 1 Sv). And the predicted level of radiation that requires urgent intervention is 1 Gy for the whole body (this is the absorbed dose, approximately equal to 1 Sv in equivalent dose.) And for the lungs - 6 Gy. Those. for those who received a whole body dose of less than 1 Sv and no intervention is required. So, it's not so scary. But it’s better, of course, not to receive such doses. "