Radiation Exposure During the Biosatellite III Primate Flight

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Abstract
Although no identifiable effects from radiation exposure in space on the test animal were expected on the Biosatellite III primate flight, the radiation field within the capsule was carefully monitored at two locations with photoemulsions and TLD sensors. The recorded mission dose of about 300 mrad accumulated in 8.5 days in orbit is trivial as far as acute or chronic radiation injury to the test animal is concerned. However, analysis of the particle make-up and energy spectra of the exposure seems of interest since it describes the complex composition of radiation exposure on near-Earth orbital missions in general. A major part of the mission dose is due to trapped protons encountered in repeated passes through the South Atlantic Anomaly. Because of high QF values applying to low-energy protons and alpha particles, tissue disintegration stars released by galactic primaries constitute a sizeable contribution to the dose equivalent. Exposure to heavy primaries, in terms of absorbed dose representing less than 1% of total dose, represents a dose contribution whose radiobiological significance is essentially unknown. For the target volume of the primate brain, the recorded flux of heavy primaries corresponds to a total track length of about 2000 cm.

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