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Old 04-August-2007, 10:08 AM
Jason Thompson Jason Thompson is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SLF:JAQ SFDJS View Post
How did they know during Apollo how much radiation shielding was needed for their spacecrafts and their space suits?
Because, believe it or not, they actually did some research on the subject before they sent men there. The Moon was studied in depth, as was the space environment. Explorer satellites, Lunar Orbiter, Surveyor, Ranger, Russian Luna probes, even the Mercury and Gemini flights had radiation dosimeters.

Quote:
They are not even sure today how much shielding they will need on the return to the moon.
The planned lunar missions are long duration flights. They have totally different radiation shielding requirements from the short Apollo missions. They know how much shielding they will need. They're just not sure the best way to go about it without compromising the rest of the flight too badly.

Quote:
I've read here that the Apollo astronauts were not in the Van Allen belts very long so they did not receive much exposure. But on the moon which is radioactive they were exposed to cosmic rays, solar radiation, x-rays, gamma rays, beta rays, protons, neutrons for days. Why didn't any of the Apollo astranouts get sick from the radiation?
What is your source for claiming the Moon is radioactive? How radioactive is it? How does the radiaition exposure there differ from the radiation exposure here? Numbers are required, or else you are just handwaving.
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