Running Head: How to Protect Astronauts 1

Real Martians: How to Protect Astronauts from Space Radiation on Mars

George French and Zane Vandivere

9/21/2018
How to Protect Astronauts 2

Abstract

Radiation is becoming an increasingly large threat as humans venture outside of the

protective bubble of Earth’s atmosphere. We are constantly being bombarded by all forms of

radiation, but the most harmful ones, those emitted from our Sun and other distant cosmic

bodies, are deflected or diffused by the magnetic field of the Earth. Other planets, and the space

between them, do not have such protection. Mars, for example, would require artificial radiation

shielding for any colonists or even research scientists staying under a year. Without this shield,

astronauts would be exposed to radiation, causing a higher likelihood of cancer later in life or

even radiation sickness, initially characterized by nausea and dizziness with the worst cases

containing hair loss, low blood pressure, and vomiting of blood. The interesting fact about

Earth’s magnetic field is that it is not very strong, but it acts over a large distance. Current

methods to replicate this for scientific uses fail because they are the opposite; they are very

strong, but act over a much smaller distance, and it is difficult to get a powerful enough field

over such a short distance without also harming the astronauts. This is call active shielding.

Physical shielding of radiation, or passive shielding, is also a viable option, if the right material

is used. Radiation from the sun is mostly protons and is low energy enough to dissipate on most

physical barriers. Some radiation creates “secondary showers” by crashing into a material and

causing it to release radiation of its own. Hydrogen-rich materials, such as polyethylene and most

common plastics, are perfect for radiation-deflection, but lack the durability to survive space. It

may be that a breakthrough will need to be made on either barrier force-field or shielding

methods, or that an integration of the two will be the solution.

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Materials and Methods

Through extensive experimentation, it has been found that most radiation particles in

space are low energy. For example, consider a spacecraft with a 4 meter diameter and several

meters long. Assuming a thickness of 3mm around the entire craft, which can stop all protons

with less than 25MeV of Ek, every 10m lengthwise would have a mass of 1020kg. Even

concentrating the material to a certain section of the craft of 1m in diameter and 2m in length

would need a mass of 1160kg to stop protons up to 200MeV. Another possibility for stopping

radiation is magnetic shielding. Due to mass restrictions, refrigerated superconducting coils must

be used. Currently, the NbTi material would most likely be used. However, in the near future,

new technologies such as Nb3Sn material or high-Tc superconductors could drastically improve

the efficiency of superconductors. After assuming a deviation of 45o within a radius of 0.25m for

the incoming radiation and a density of 3500A/mm2 for the center, the superconductor coil’s

mass and volume can be found to be 103kg and 27840cm3 respectively. Finding the total mass of

the superconductor would only require adding the mass of the cooling system and the thermal

shielding. Because electrons and protons are a similar size, the element hydrogen works very

well to stop radiation. Hydrogen is a large part of some materials, like plastic and water.

Polyethylene has potential to work well. It is high in hydrogen and cheap. The biggest issue with

polyethylene is that it is not strong enough to stand up to the large amounts of heat and stress that

a spacecraft goes through at launch. Adding any plastic to a metal structure would also add a

large amount of mass. However, it could work well for a structure which doesn’t have to hold up

to such extreme conditions.

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Table 1. This data table shows the penetration of protons of different energy levels in aluminum.

At its highest energy level, a proton can penetrate up to 5760 g/cm2 of aluminum.
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Figure 1. This figure shows a longitudinal cross-section of the imagined coil configuration. 1

represents the inner cylindrical conductor, 2 the outer cylindrical conductor, and 3 the radial

connectors.
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Analysis

It would seem that the most effective way to protect from radiation is magnetic shielding.

However, using plastics like polyethylene would be much cheaper. Because polyethylene is such

a commonly used plastic in containers already, it could be possible to create anything with

plastic waste in such a way that it could be added to walls as shielding after the launch. Because

this method only uses the waste the astronauts would already generate, it would not add much, if

any, mass to the craft. Polyethylene would appear to be particularly attractive as a method for

shielding for any stationary buildings, such as a colony or research station on another planet.
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Garner, R. (2015, September 30). How to Protect Astronauts from Space Radiation on Mars.

Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/real-martians-how-to-protect-

astronauts-from-space-radiation-on-mars.

Radiation shielding of spacecraft in manned interplanetary flights. (2000, March 20). Retrieved

from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168900299010918.

Radiation sickness. (2015, September 29). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-

conditions/radiation-sickness/symptoms-causes/syc-20377058.