Galactic cosmic ray simulation at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

John W Norbury; Walter Schimmerling; Tony C Slaba; Edouard I Azzam; Francis F Badavi; Giorgio Baiocco; Eric Benton; Veronica Bindi; Eleanor A Blakely; Steve R Blattnig; David A Boothman; Thomas B Borak; Richard A Britten; Stan Curtis; Michael Dingfelder; Marco Durante; William S Dynan; Amelia J Eisch; S Robin Elgart; Dudley T Goodhead; Peter M Guida; Lawrence H Heilbronn; Christine E Hellweg; Janice L Huff; Amy Kronenberg; Chiara La Tessa; Derek I Lowenstein; Jack Miller; Takashi Morita; Livio Narici; Gregory A Nelson; Ryan B Norman; Andrea Ottolenghi; Zarana S Patel; Guenther Reitz; Adam Rusek; Ann-Sofie Schreurs; Lisa A Scott-Carnell; Edward Semones; Jerry W Shay; Vyacheslav A Shurshakov; Lembit Sihver; Lisa C Simonsen; Michael D Story; Mitchell S Turker; Yukio Uchihori; Jacqueline Williams; Cary J Zeitlin

doi:10.1016/j.lssr.2016.02.001

Galactic cosmic ray simulation at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

Life Sci Space Res (Amst). 2016 Feb:8:38-51. doi: 10.1016/j.lssr.2016.02.001. Epub 2016 Feb 17.

Authors

John W Norbury¹, Walter Schimmerling², Tony C Slaba³, Edouard I Azzam⁴, Francis F Badavi⁵, Giorgio Baiocco⁶, Eric Benton⁷, Veronica Bindi⁸, Eleanor A Blakely⁹, Steve R Blattnig³, David A Boothman¹⁰, Thomas B Borak¹¹, Richard A Britten¹², Stan Curtis¹³, Michael Dingfelder¹⁴, Marco Durante¹⁵, William S Dynan¹⁶, Amelia J Eisch¹⁰, S Robin Elgart¹⁷, Dudley T Goodhead¹⁸, Peter M Guida¹⁹, Lawrence H Heilbronn²⁰, Christine E Hellweg²¹, Janice L Huff²², Amy Kronenberg⁹, Chiara La Tessa¹⁹, Derek I Lowenstein¹⁹, Jack Miller⁹, Takashi Morita²³, Livio Narici²⁴, Gregory A Nelson²⁵, Ryan B Norman³, Andrea Ottolenghi⁶, Zarana S Patel¹⁷, Guenther Reitz²¹, Adam Rusek¹⁹, Ann-Sofie Schreurs²⁶, Lisa A Scott-Carnell³, Edward Semones¹⁷, Jerry W Shay¹⁰, Vyacheslav A Shurshakov²⁷, Lembit Sihver²⁸, Lisa C Simonsen³, Michael D Story¹⁰, Mitchell S Turker²⁹, Yukio Uchihori³⁰, Jacqueline Williams³¹, Cary J Zeitlin³²

Affiliations

¹ NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681, USA. Electronic address: john.w.norbury@nasa.gov.
² East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA; Universities Space Research Association, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
³ NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681, USA.
⁴ Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07101, USA.
⁵ Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics, University of Pavia, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
⁷ Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74074, USA.
⁸ University of Hawaii - Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA.
⁹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
¹⁰ University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
¹¹ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
¹² Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA 23507, USA.
¹³ 11771 Sunset Ave. NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA.
¹⁴ East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA.
¹⁵ GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
¹⁶ Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
¹⁷ NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
¹⁸ Medical Research Council, Harwell, Didcot OX11 0RD, United Kingdom.
¹⁹ Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
²⁰ University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
²¹ German Aerospace Center, 51147 Cologne, Germany.
²² Universities Space Research Association, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
²³ Osaka City University, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
²⁴ University of Rome Tor Vergata & INFN, 00133 Rome, Italy.
²⁵ Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA.
²⁶ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
²⁷ Institute of Biomedical Problems, Moscow 123007, Russia.
²⁸ Technische Universität Wien - Atominstitut, 1020 Vienna, Austria; EBG MedAustron GmbH, 2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
²⁹ Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
³⁰ National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba 263-8555, Japan.
³¹ University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
³² Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

Abstract

Most accelerator-based space radiation experiments have been performed with single ion beams at fixed energies. However, the space radiation environment consists of a wide variety of ion species with a continuous range of energies. Due to recent developments in beam switching technology implemented at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), it is now possible to rapidly switch ion species and energies, allowing for the possibility to more realistically simulate the actual radiation environment found in space. The present paper discusses a variety of issues related to implementation of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) simulation at NSRL, especially for experiments in radiobiology. Advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to developing a GCR simulator are presented. In addition, issues common to both GCR simulation and single beam experiments are compared to issues unique to GCR simulation studies. A set of conclusions is presented as well as a discussion of the technical implementation of GCR simulation.

Keywords: Galactic cosmic ray simulation; Space radiation.

Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Cosmic Radiation*
Laboratories
Radiobiology
Research
United States
United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding