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Science 28 May 1982:
Vol. 216. no. 4549, pp. 939 - 946
DOI: 10.1126/science.216.4549.939
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Articles

Solar Flares, Proton Showers, and the Space Shuttle

David M. Rust 1

1 Senior staff scientist at American Science and Engineering, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

The space shuttle era will focus renewed attention on the hazards of the space environment to human habitation. The chief unpredictable hazard for astronauts is energetic proton radiation from solar flares. In some orbits, there is no reasonable level of shielding material that will protect shuttle occupants from potentially lethal doses of radiation. The effects of a solar flare that occurred druing the first flight of the Columbia are discussed and current flare research reviewed. The emphasis is on progress made during the recent international Solar Maximum Year toward understanding the origins of proton showers.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radiation measurements aboard Spacelab 1.
E. Benton, J Almasi, R Cassou, A Frank, R. Henke, V Rowe, T. Parnell, and E Schopper (1984)
Science 225, 224-226
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