A new type of ground-based simulator of radiation field inside a spacecraft in deep space

Access paper here

Abstract: The problem of full-scale ground-based modeling of cosmic radiation on heavy-ion accelerators for space radiobiology is very urgent. A new type of space radiation simulator at the $^{56}$Fe ion beam with energy 1 GeV/n is proposed. The simulator uses rotating converters consisting of segmented targets with varying thicknesses. When a flat uniform field of primary $^{56}$Fe ions is used, this design ensures the uniformity of the fields of all secondary particles behind the targets. The proposed setup with four replaceable converters makes it possible to simulate not only the distribution of linear energy transfers of cosmic radiation but also reproduce continuous energy spectra of all charged fragments of the projectile ion from protons to Co. The results of simulation of the internal radiation field inside the habitable module of a spacecraft with a shell of 15 g/cm$^2$ Al, generated by particles of galactic cosmic rays in the solar activity range from 0 to 190 Wolf numbers, are presented.