Page 12 - aruba-today-20200926

A12 SCIENCE
Saturday 26 September 2020
New measurements show moon has hazardous radiation levels

By MARCIA DUNN nauts to land on the moon
AP Aerospace Writer under the new Artemis pro-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. gram would spend about a
(AP) — Future moon ex- week on the lunar surface,
plorers will be bombarded more than twice as long
with two to three times as the Apollo crews did a
more radiation than as- half-century ago. Expedi-
tronauts aboard the Inter- tions would last one to two
national Space Station, a months once a base camp
health hazard that will re- is established.
quire thick-walled shelters NASA is looking to put astro-
for protection, scientists re- nauts on the moon by the
ported Friday. end of 2024, an acceler-
China's lander on the far ated pace ordered by the
side of the moon is provid- White House, and on Mars
ing the first full measure- sometime in the 2030s.
ments of radiation expo- The space agency said
sure from the lunar surface, it will have radiation de-
vital information for NASA tectors and a safe shelter
and others aiming to send aboard all Orion crew cap-
astronauts to the moon, the sules flying to the moon. As
study noted. for the actual landers, three
A Chinese-German team separate corporate teams
reported on the radia- are developing their own
tion data collected by the In this Sept. 2, 2020 file photo, the full moon shines surrounded by clouds in the outskirts of Frank- craft with NASA oversight.
lander — named Chang'e furt, Germany. For the first Artemis moon
4 for the Chinese moon Associated Press landing, at least, the astro-
goddess — in the U.S. jour- nauts will live in the ascent
nal Science Advances. passengers on a trans-At- moon," he added. measurements by a detec- portion of their lander.
"This is an immense achieve- lantic airline flight, noted Radiation levels should be tor on a NASA orbiter that The German researchers
ment in the sense that now Robert Wimmer-Schweingr- pretty much the same all has been circling the moon suggest shelters built of
we have a data set which uber of Christian-Albrechts over the moon, except for for more than a decade, moon dirt — readily avail-
we can use to benchmark University in Kiel, Germany. near the walls of deep cra- said Kerry Lee, a space ra- able material — for stays of
our radiation" and better "The difference is, how- ters, Wimmer-Schweingru- diation expert at Johnson more than a few days. The
understand the potential ever, that we're not on ber said. Space Center in Houston. walls should be 80 centime-
risk to people on the moon, such a flight for as long "Basically, the less you see "It is nice to see confirma- ters (about 2 1/2 feet) thick,
said Thomas Berger, a as astronauts would be of the sky, the better. That's tion of what we think and they said. Any thicker and
physicist with the German when they're exploring the the primary source of the our understanding of how the dirt will emit its own sec-
Space Agency's medicine moon," Wimmer-Schwein- radiation," he said. radiation interacts with the ondary radiation, created
institute. gruber said in an email. Wimmer-Schweingruber moon is as expected," said when galactic cosmic rays
Astronauts would get 200 to Cancer is the primary risk. said the radiation levels are Lee, who was not involved interact with the lunar soil.
1,000 times more radiation "Humans are not really close to what models had in the Chinese-led study. "So in this sense — I think the
on the moon than what we made for these radiation predicted. The levels mea- In a detailed outline re- walls of European Castles
experience on Earth — or levels and should protect sured by Chang'e 4, in fact, leased this week, NASA would be too thick!" Berger
five to 10 times more than themselves when on the "agree nearly exactly" with said the first pair of astro- wrote in an email.q

NASA astronaut plans to cast her ballot from space station

ALEX SANZ lays the completed ballot back to
Associated Press the county clerk.
ATLANTA (AP) — NASA astronaut "It's critical to participate in our de-
Kate Rubins told The Associated mocracy," Rubins said. "We con-
Press on Friday that she plans to sider it an honor to be able to vote
cast her next vote from space – from space."
more than 200 miles above Earth. NASA astronauts have voted from
Rubins is just outside Moscow in Star space before. Rubins and Shane
City, Russia, preparing with two Kimbrough cast their votes from
cosmonauts for a mid-October the International Space Station.
launch and a six-month stay at the Rubins, the first person to sequence
International Space Station. DNA in space, plans to work on a
"I think it's really important for ev- cardiovascular experiment and
erybody to vote," Rubins said. "If conduct research using the space
we can do it from space, then I station's Cold Atom Lab.
believe folks can do it from the While she's there, she'll celebrate
ground, too." the 20th anniversary of continuous
Most U.S. astronauts live in Houston. human presence on the space sta-
This photo provided by NASA. Expedition 64 crew member NASA astronaut Texas law allows them to vote from tion, and welcome the crew of the
Kate Rubins, is seen during Soyuz qualification exams Wednesday, Sept. 23, space using a secure electronic second SpaceX commercial crew
2020 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia. ballot. Mission Control forwards the mission, expected to arrive in late
Associated Press ballot to the space station and re- October.q