The harmful effects of space radiation pose a serious health risk to astronauts participating in future long-term missions. Such radiation effects must be considered in the design phase of space vessels as well as in mission planning. Crew radioprotection during long periods in deep space (e.g., transit to Mars) represents a major challenge, especially because of the strong restrictions on the passive shielding load allowed on-board the vessel. Novel materials with better shielding performance compared to the “gold standard” high-density polyethylene are therefore greatly needed. Because of the high hydrogen content of hydrides, lithium hydride has been selected as a starting point for further studies of promising candidates to be used as passive shielding materials. In the current experimental campaign, the shielding performance of lithium hydride was assessed by measuring normalized dose, primary beam attenuation and neutron ambient dose equivalent using 430 MeV/u 12C, 600 MeV/u 12C and 228 MeV proton beams. The experimental data were then compared to predictions from the Monte Carlo transport codes PHITS and GRAS. The experimental results show an increased shielding effectiveness of lithium hydride compared to reference materials like polyethylene. For instance, the attenuation length for 600 MeV/u 12C primary particles in lithium hydride is approximately 20% shorter compared to polyethylene. Furthermore, the comparison results between both transport codes indicates that the standard Tripathi-based total reaction cross-section model of PHITS cannot accurately reproduce the presented experimental data, whereas GRAS shows reasonable agreement.
Skip Nav Destination
Close
Article navigation
1 February 2019
Research Article|
November 30 2018
Experimental Assessment of Lithium Hydride's Space Radiation Shielding Performance and Monte Carlo Benchmarking
Christoph Schuy
;
Christoph Schuy
1
aGSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, Darmstadt, Germany
1 Address for correspondence: GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, Planckstraβe 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany: email: c.schuy@gsi.de.
Search for other works by this author on:
Chiara La Tessa
;
Chiara La Tessa
bTrento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA), Povo, Italy
cDepartment of Physics, University of Trento, Povo, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Felix Horst
;
Felix Horst
aGSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, Darmstadt, Germany
dInstitute of Medical Physics and Radiation Protection (IMPS), THM University of Applied Sciences Giessen, Giessen, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Marta Rovituso
;
Marta Rovituso
bTrento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA), Povo, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Marco Durante
;
Marco Durante
bTrento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA), Povo, Italy
cDepartment of Physics, University of Trento, Povo, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Martina Giraudo
;
Martina Giraudo
eThales Alenia Space, Turin, Italy
fDepartment of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Luca Bocchini
;
Luca Bocchini
eThales Alenia Space, Turin, Italy
gDepartments of Physics
Search for other works by this author on:
Marcello Baricco
;
Marcello Baricco
hDepartments of Chemistry and NIS, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Alberto Castellero
;
Alberto Castellero
hDepartments of Chemistry and NIS, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Gianluca Fioreh
;
Gianluca Fioreh
hDepartments of Chemistry and NIS, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Uli Weber
Uli Weber
aGSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, Darmstadt, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Radiat Res (2019) 191 (2): 154–161.
Citation
Christoph Schuy, Chiara La Tessa, Felix Horst, Marta Rovituso, Marco Durante, Martina Giraudo, Luca Bocchini, Marcello Baricco, Alberto Castellero, Gianluca Fioreh, Uli Weber; Experimental Assessment of Lithium Hydride's Space Radiation Shielding Performance and Monte Carlo Benchmarking. Radiat Res 1 February 2019; 191 (2): 154–161. doi: https://doi.org/10.1667/RR15123.1
Download citation file:
Close
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionCiting articles via
Commonalities Between COVID-19 and Radiation Injury
Carmen I. Rios, David R. Cassatt, Brynn A. Hollingsworth, Merriline M. Satyamitra, Yeabsera S. Tadesse, Lanyn P. Taliaferro, Thomas A. Winters, Andrea L. DiCarlo
Low-Dose Radiation Therapy (LDRT) for COVID-19: Benefits or Risks?
Pataje G. Prasanna, Gayle E. Woloschak, Andrea L. DiCarlo, Jeffrey C. Buchsbaum, Dörthe Schaue, Arnab Chakravarti, Francis A. Cucinotta, Silvia C. Formenti, Chandan Guha, Dale J. Hu, Mohammad K. Khan, David G. Kirsch, Sunil Krishnan, Wolfgang W. Leitner, Brian Marples, William McBride, Minesh P. Mehta, Shahin Rafii, Elad Sharon, Julie M. Sullivan, Ralph R. Weichselbaum, Mansoor M. Ahmed, Bhadrasain Vikram, C. Norman Coleman, Kathryn D. Held
Germicidal Efficacy and Mammalian Skin Safety of 222-nm UV Light
Manuela Buonanno, Brian Ponnaiya, David Welch, Milda Stanislauskas, Gerhard Randers-Pehrson, Lubomir Smilenov, Franklin D. Lowy, David M. Owens, David J. Brenner
Photon GRID Radiation Therapy: A Physics and Dosimetry White Paper from the Radiosurgery Society (RSS) GRID/LATTICE, Microbeam and FLASH Radiotherapy Working Group
Hualin Zhang, Xiaodong Wu, Xin Zhang, Sha X. Chang, Ali Megooni, Eric D. Donnelly, Mansoor M. Ahmed, Robert J. Griffin, James S. Welsh, Charles B. Simone, II, Nina A. Mayr