NASA aims to know the full extent of space radiation to mitigate the health risks faced by astronauts, so it developed a Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) Simulator that can be operated here on Earth.
In a study published May 19 in the journal PLOS Biology, author Lisa Simonsen and colleagues at the NASA Langley Research Center detailed how the space agency built the GCR Simulator at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL), which is able to recreate more accurately the actual radiation environment found in space.
Galactic cosmic rays are made of a combination of helium ions, highly energetic protons, and higher charge energy ions ranging from lithium to iron, making them very difficult to shield against. These ions interact with human tissues and spacecraft materials to create a complex mixed field of primary and secondary particles.
However, the effects of cosmic rays on astronauts are not fully understood. If we're ever going to travel further into the cosmos or spend months on the moon or Mars, we need to find out how our bodies react to these heavy ions and mixtures of ions.
Although there have been efforts to study galactic cosmic rays in the lab in the past, scientists have struggled to replicate the kinds of radiation found in space. One of the problems is that current beam technologies struggle to produce the kind of particle diversity unique to galactic cosmic rays.
For this new study, the team of scientists were able to use fast beam switching and enhanced controls systems to repeatedly and rapidly produce different kinds of combinations of multiple ion-energy beams.
Already, scientists have started exposing animal models to the replicated galactic cosmic radiation fields and they are hoping to identify the effects of this radiation, whether it be neurological or cardiovascular; or if it increases the risks of organ tissue damage, like leukemia and other types of cancers.
"Over the past 30 years, most research on understanding space radiation-induced health risks has been performed using acute exposures of mono-energetic single-ion beams," wrote the team in a release. "Now a mixed field of ions can be studied collectively in the same animal cohort, thereby drastically reducing the number of animals, husbandry, and research costs."
This successful demonstration of the Galactic Cosmic Ray Simulator establishes the device as a tool to study mixed fields of ions on animal models, where previously they mostly needed to be studied through separate experiments.
