5/31/2013 NASA Publishes Radiation Readings From Curiosity's Trip to Mars

Date: 5/31/2013
by: admin

Comparison of Some Radiation Exposures to Mars-Trip Level (credit NASA)

 A recent article published by NASA (5/30/2013) showed that Curiosity's RAD (radiation assessment detector) measured radiation on its trip to Mars to be 1.8 milliSieverts of GCR (galactic cosmic rays) per day while enclosed within the MSL (Mars Science Lab).  Converting to the commonly used  μSv/h scale (e.g. 1.8 * 1000/24) we get 75 μSv/h.  As an informal comparison I drilled down on the MEXT radiation station data from Fukushima prefecture in Japan to see what the highest reading was.  According to MEXT (Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science and Technology) data for their "Ottozawa three district meeting place" the reading as of 5/31/2013 CST was about 29.04 μSv/hr, or 407 times the normal background radiation level.

Reading from Ottozawa three distring meeting place, 5/31/2013 6:46 AM CST

Extrapolating then from our data (75/29.04 * 407) an astronaut riding within the MSL would receive an hourly radiation dose 1051 times higher than the level (according to MEXT of .037 μSv/hr) expected within Japan under normal conditions.

More comparisons can be garnered from the NASA article Data from NASA Rover's Voyage to Mars Aids Planning and also Wired Magazine's recent piece Radiation Risk for Mars Astronauts Will Be Dangerously High.