LWS TR&T Strategic Capability:

PI: Nathan Schwadron / Boston University - Earth-Moon-Mars Radiation Exposure Module (EMMREM)
Next Team Meeting: September 19-21, 2007, Boston University
Team-Maintained Web Site: http://www.bu.edu/csp/EMMREM/news.html

The third strategic goal is a comprehensive model capable of predicting radiation exposure anywhere on the surface or in the atmosphere of Earth, on the Moon, on Mars, and in interplanetary space between Earth and Mars. The model will provide deliverables of use to mission planners and space system designers for space exploration missions.

Expected features of such a model include:

• The ability to predict radiation exposure anywhere on the surface of Earth, the Moon, or Mars, in the atmosphere of Earth, and in the space between Earth and Mars given the energy spectrum, angular distribution, and elemental composition of the cosmic ray distribution in the solar wind; and
• A deliverable product in the form of a "Green function" for radiation exposure. The model should define clear procedures for integrating this Green function with an arbitrary specified cosmic ray distribution, to produce a prediction for radiation exposure.
  

Desirable features of such a model include:

• Error estimates on the predictions;
• Identification of the major sources of error;
• Recommendations concerning the research needed to narrow the error bounds (Illustration: Are uncertainties in nuclear cross-sections a major uncertainty in Earth's atmosphere? Is the atmosphere profile a limiting uncertainty on Mars?);
• Information concerning the implications of the results on critical electronic components;
• An evaluation of the effects of backscatter/albedo from lunar or Martian soils;
• An evaluation indicating whether soil composition is a significant factor;
• An evaluation determining whether magnetism from local surface features on the Moon or Mars is a significant factor;
• A determination of the relevance of magnetism from the induced magnetosphere of Mars; and
• An evaluation of shadowing from local landforms such as mountains or canyon walls.