Astronauts and radiation?

Question

First of all, I am not trying to prove the moon landing fake and all that sort of c**p.

Just curious on how the spacesuits managed to shield against so much radiation and why that technology was not used to clean up Chernobyl?

Answer 1

The worst of the radiation on a flight to the Moon occurs in the Van Allen belts, shortly after Trans Lunar Injection. Since the Apollo craft were flying at about 20,000 MPH at that point in the flight, they were through the VA belts in under an hour.

Plus, the radiation at Chernobyl was thousands of times higher than what was experienced on a flight to the Moon.

Radiating shielding is an easier job when you get to fly away, quickly, from the radiation source.  

And, while flying to the Moon, most of the time, the astronauts were shielded inside their spacecraft.

Add in that the Moon suits were very difficult to move around in, and so they'd have been quite poor to use in the confined spaces of the Chernobyl facility, well, other methods were called for. Nor was there time, in the early phase of that tragic accident, to find anything more than standard radiation gear.

Answer 2

The space suits do not shield against much radiation at all. But most of the time, and in most parts of space there isn't THAT much radiation. So they just accept the dose. Astronauts are classified as radiation workers, like nuclear power plant workers. They are required to sign a form that says they understand they will be exposed to more radiation than the general public and they agree to accept that risk. NASA does take measures to limit exposure, but the measures are really not much. Like not scheduling space walks during solar eruptions that send out unusual amounts of radiation. And they do not spend that long in space. Most are in space 2 weeks or less at a time. The space station crews are on 6 month visits, and the longest stay anyone did was a year. But the space station orbits close to Earth so it is partly shielded by the Earth and it's magnetic field. But a 2 or 3 year trip to Mars, far from the Earth's magnetic field, is considered too dangerous by many. It is one of the reasons NASA has not yet tried to send people to Mars; because they are not sure the astronauts could take that much radiation.

Answer 3

Without the protection of the Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere, astronauts are exposed to high levels of radiation through a steady flux of cosmic rays.

A year in even low-earth orbit results in a dose of radiation 10 times that of the annual dose on earth resulting in a high risk of astronauts developing cancer.

Protective shielding and protective drugs may lower the risks to astronauts to an acceptable level, but data are scarce, and longer-term exposure will result in greater risks.

But for the Apollo astronauts, they were only in space for a few days (not months).  

The primary region of radiation for Apollo crews was the Van Allen belts.  But the moon is ten times further than the Van Allen radiation belts and the spacecraft moved through the belts in just 30 minutes.  The astronauts were protected from the ionizing radiation by the aluminium hulls of the spacecraft.

In addition, the orbital transfer trajectory from the Earth to the moon through the belts was selected to minimize radiation exposure.  Even Dr. James Van Allen, the discoverer of the Van Allen radiation belts, stated that radiation levels were too low to be dangerous for the Apollo missions.  Dosimeters carried by the crews showed they received about the same cumulative dosage as a chest X-ray or about 1 milligray, with an average dose of less than 1 rem, which is equivalent to the amount of background radiation you or I would get living at sea level for three years.

Answer 4

there are different kinds and strengths of radiation.

the radiation released in the chernobyl explosion was gamma rays, the most powerful. no way to "clean up" gamma radiation. gamma radiation is not found in the van allen belts because they are photons, and cannot orbit the earth as alpha or beta particles can.

the van allen belts are composed to alpha and beta particles. alpha particles cant make it through a piece of paper, and beta particles are stopped by a few millimeters of lead. the astronauts were exposed to the very edges of the belt, in the spot with the least radiation, for a total of 30 minutes. they received the same dose of radiation as a normal chest x-ray.

not too dangerous.

Answer 5

>>Just curious on how the spacesuits managed to shield against so much radiation<<

how much radiation? What type? What energy? What flux density? These are critical points when designing shielding for any form of radiation.

The main form of radiation in space is particle radiation. That is best shielded by plastics, light metals, water, etc. You can stop most particle radiation with a thin sheet of plastic. Once you get past the van Allen belts the levels of radiation are not that high. The space suit layers were more than enough to shield the astronauts. In future missions to the moon and Mars they'll need more protection because they will be out far longer. Time is a critical factor in radiation protection.

>>why that technology was not used to clean up Chernobyl?<<

Different type of radiation, requiring different procedures. Simple as that.