The RADOM instrument for the Moon radiation environment onboard the CHANDRAYAAN-1 lunar spacecraft
- Paper number
IAC-07-A3.I.A.09
- Author
Dr. Giovanni De Angelis, Istituto Superiore di Sanita' (ISS), Italy
- Year
2007
- Abstract
In view of manned missions targeted to the Moon, for which radiation exposure is one of the greatest challenges to be tackled, it is of fundamental importance the determination of the particle flux and spectra at any time and at any point of the lunar surface. Radiation-related investigations have been envisaged for most future Moon-targeted space missions. One of the future missions is the Indian lunar orbiter mission CHANDRAYAAN-1, to be launched in March 2008. The RADOM experiment, selected for the payload of the Indian lunar satellite CHANDRAYAAN-1, is a small-size and low-power-consumption radiation spectrometer, which measures the spectrum of the deposited energy in 256 channels with 0.3 mm thickness silicon detector. The proposed instrument will qualitatively and quantitatively characterize, in terms of particle flux, dose rate and deposited energy spectrum, the radiation environment in near-Moon space. The specific objectives are to: 1) measure the particle flux, deposited energy spectrum, accumulated absorbed dose rates in Moon orbit with high time resolution during quite and disturbed solar conditions; 2) evaluate the respective contributions of protons, neutrons, electrons, gamma rays and GCR heavy ions; 3) provide an estimation of the dose map around Moon at different altitudes; 4) evaluate the shielding characteristics of the Moon near environment towards galactic and solar energetic particles; 5) verify and improve methods for radiation detection and dosimetry during Moon exploration, especially for future manned Moon missions as well as calculation models for particles transport and dose assessment. The investigation will be carried out as an international collaborations among the Bulgarian Solar-Terrestrial Influences Laboratory (STIL-BAS), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Nuclear Physics Institute from the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Italian National Institute of Health, and the French Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety.
- Abstract document