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Dosimetric Mapping (DOSMAP)
07.17.09

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

Dosimetric Mapping (DOSMAP) allowed mapping of radiation levels throughout the internal environment of the International Space Station (ISS) and in the immediate vicinity of each crewmember. The resulting data helped determine the best radiation shielding locations on board the ISS, thereby providing the crew with the best possible protection during unusually high levels of radiation due to solar flares and other cosmic phenomena.

Principal Investigator

  • Guenter Reitz, Ph.D., German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany

    • Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

  • Rudolf Beaujean, Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet Kiel, Kiel, Germany
  • Eric Benton, Eril Research Incorporated, Richmond, CA
  • Tzvetan Dachev, Solar Terrestrial Influences Laboratory BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • Sandor Deme KFKI Atomic Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary
  • Marlies Luszik-Bhadra, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany
  • Pawel Olko, Institute for Nuclear Physics, Krakow, Poland

    • Payload Developer

    Johnson Space Center, Human Research Program, Houston, TX

    Sponsoring Agency

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

    Expeditions Assigned

    |2|

    Previous ISS Missions

    The DOSMAP investigation was performed on the following Space Shuttle flights: STS-9, STS-61, STS-42, STS-55, STS-65, STS-76, STS-79, STS-81, STS-84, STS-86; three Russian research satellites and EuroMir.

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    Experiment/Payload Description

    Research Summary

    • In order to better understand the internal environment of the International Space Station (ISS), Dosimetric Mapping (DOSMAP) mapped the radiation levels throughout the ISS and in the immediate vicinity of each crewmember.


    • Measurements were taken using a dosimetry package of four different types of dosimeters (radiation detectors) placed throughout the spacecraft at different shielding locations. The different types of detectors were designed to provide a complete radiation profile aboard the ISS, including different types of radiation that differently affect crew health.

    Description

    Interactions of ionizing radiations with the ISS structure and its contents creates a somewhat different radiation field at each location inside the ISS modules. This is in part due to a large contribution from secondary radiation created by particles colliding with the spacecraft materials. Dosimetric Mapping (DOSMAP) was designed to map the total absorbed dose in the US Laboratory module of the ISS. DOSMAP was deployed from March through August of 2001. This time frame included results from the solar particle event (SPE) that occurred on April 15, 2001.

    In order to fully characterize the doses observed on the ISS, four detector types were used. These were thermo-luminescence dosimeter (TLD) chips, CR39 nuclear track detectors with and without converters (NTDPs), a silicon dosimetry telescope (DOSTEL), and four mobile silicon detector units (MDUs). Crewmembers used these mobile dosimetry units (MDUs) as personal dosimeters. They provided the ability to measure spectral composition with respect to nuclear charge, energy, and rate of energy deposition (LET), as well as to estimate absorbed dose from galactic radiation, radiation belt particles, and the April solar particle event (SPE).

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    Applications

    Space Applications

    DOSMAP will produce a clearer image of the radiation environment aboard the ISS, revealing what segments provide better radiation shielding and examining the radiation levels immediately surrounding crewmembers.

    DOSMAP research will help scientists more accurately predict radiation exposure in long-duration space flight, both in low Earth orbit and outside Earth's magnetic field. With this information, it will be possible to develop countermeasures that will protect crews in space on longer missions to Mars and the Moon, and it may also help lead to technologies to protect people working in potentially radioactive areas on Earth, such as nuclear power plants and nuclear submarines.

    Earth Applications

    This experiment is teaching scientists more about the use of devices for data collection and how to monitor real-time data. This could prove beneficial to radiation monitoring of commercial airline crews and military flight crews.

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    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    DOSMAP required the use of the computer in the Human Research Facility - 1 (HRF-1), which was used to transmit DOSTEL information to Earth every 10 days. MDUs were recharged every 5-days. Crew members deactivated and stowed all dosimeters for return on STS-105.

    Operational Protocols

    Dosimeters placed around the ISS absorbed radiation during a three-month period. Crewmembers collected select dosimeters every 10 days and recorded the data. Crewmembers also charged their MDUs every 5 days. TLDs required maintenance every 10 days. Other dosimeters recorded information for the entire three-month mission for postflight analysis on Earth.

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    Results/More Information

    The DOSMAP was designed to map the total absorbed dose in the U.S. Laboratory of the ISS. It used four different types of dosimeters to map absorbed dose, neutron dose, heavy ion quantity, and spectral composition (charge, energy and LET). It was deployed from March through August of 2001. This time frame included results from the solar particle event (SPE) occurring on April 15, 2001.

    In general, radiation damage to the human body is indicated by the amount of energy deposited in living tissue, modified by the type of radiation causing the damage; this is measured in units of Sieverts (Sv). The background radiation dose received by an average person in the United States is approximately 3.5 milliSv/year. An exposure of 1 Sv/hour can result in radiation poisoning and a dose of 5 Sv/hour will result in death in 50 percent of exposed individuals. An average dose due to all detectors during Expedition 2 was found to be 532 microSv/day. This is significantly lower than measurements taken on previous Space Shuttle and Mir missions. All dosimeters showed agreement to within 10 percent of one another and over 95 percent of the projected measurements were able to be collected (Reitz 2001, 2005).

    Three important conclusions were drawn from this experiment which will help with future monitoring activities:

  • The corrections needed due to device data storage and readout was negligible to the LET readings and had only a small influence on dose rate estimates.

  • About 15 percent of the tissue damaging dose (effective dose) is from short-ranged neutrons and protons created within the spacecraft materials.

  • About 90 percent of the crewmember dose is due to particles which deposit less than 150 keV/micron.

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    Related Web Sites
  • NASA Fact Sheet
  • International Space Station Medical Project (ISSMP)
  • Radiation and Long-Term Space Flight

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    Publications

    Results Publications
    • Reitz G, Beaujean R, Benton E, Burmeister S, Dachev Ts, Deme S, Luszik-Bhadra M, Olko P. Space radiation measurements on-board ISS - the DOSMAP experiment. Radiation Protection Dosimetry. 2005 ;116 (1-4): 374-379.
    • Reitz G, Beaujean R, Dachev Ts, Deme S, Luszik-Bhadra M, Heinrich W, Olko P. Dosimetric Mapping. Conference and Exhibit on International Space Station Utilization, Cape Canaveral, FL. Oct 15 - 18, 2001 ;AIAA-2001-4903.

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    Related Publications

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      Images

      imageNASA Image: ISS002E7814 - Expedition Two Flight Engineer Jim Voss works with a Pille TLD (one of the radiation-detecting components of DOSMAP) while in the Destiny laboratory module of the International Space Station.
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      imageHigh-energy particles leave tracks (dark streak in center of the image) on CR39 plastic film contained within DOSMAP's Nuclear Track Detector Packages.
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      imageNASA Image: ISS002E6593 - View of Mobile Dosimetry Unit 1, the Human Research Facility - 1 (HRF-1) DOSMAP Nuclear Track Detector Package 1 and TLD A0103 attached to a starboard rack in the Destiny laboratory module of the ISS.
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      Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office
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