2017/10/31 by Jeffery C. Chancellor, Rebecca S. Blue, Keith A. Cengel +4 · 176 citations
Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Aerospace #Effects of Radiation Exposure #Human health #Human spaceflight #Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry #Risk assessment #Space (punctuation) #Space environment #Space exploration #Space radiation #Spaceflight effects on biology #physics.bio-ph #physics.med-ph #physics.space-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41526-018-0043-2
published in npj Microgravity 4(1), 8 (Nature Portfolio) · Accepted for publication by Nature Microgravity (2018)
openalex created_date 2017/11/10 · arxiv created 2018/02/17 · openalex publication_date 2018/03/26 · arxiv updated 2018/04/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Despite years of research, understanding of the space radiation environment and the risk it poses to long-duration astronauts remains limited. There is a disparity between research results and observed empirical effects seen in human astronaut crews, likely due to the numerous factors that limit terrestrial simulation of the complex space environment and extrapolation of human clinical consequences from varied animal models. Given the intended future of human spaceflight, with efforts now to rapidly expand capabilities for human missions to the moon and Mars, there is a pressing need to improve upon the understanding of the space radiation risk, predict likely clinical outcomes of interplanetary radiation exposure, and develop appropriate and effective mitigation strategies for future missions. To achieve this goal, the space radiation and aerospace community must recognize the historical limitations of radiation research and how such limitations could be addressed in future research endeavors. We have sought to highlight the numerous factors that limit understanding of the risk of space radiation for human crews and to identify ways in which these limitations could be addressed for improved understanding and appropriate risk posture regarding future human spaceflight.