[en] Potential radiation hazards to crew members on manned Mars missions are discussed. It deals briefly with radiation sources and environments likely to be encountered during various phases of such missions, providing quantitative estimates of these environments. Also provided are quantitative data and discussions on the implications of such radiation on the human body. Various sorts of protective measures are suggested. Recent re-evaluation of allowable dose limits by the National Council of Radiation Protection is discussed, and potential implications from such activity are assessed

No abstract available

[en] Radiation protection standards for space activities differ substantially from those applied to terrestrial working situations. The levels of radiation and subsequent hazards to which space workers are exposed are quite unlike anything found on Earth. The new more highly refined system of risk management involves assessing the risk to each space worker from all sources of radiation (occupational and non-occupational) at the organ level. The risk coefficients were applied to previous space and medical exposures (diagnostic x ray and nuclear medicine procedures) in order to estimate the radiation-induced lifetime cancer incidence and mortality risk. At present, the risk from medical procedures when compared to space activities is 14 times higher for cancer incidence and 13 times higher for cancer mortality; however, this will change as the per capita dose during Space Station Freedom and interplanetary missions increases and more is known about the risks from exposure to high-LET radiation

No abstract available

[en] The use of tanning booths as a substitute for natural sunlight is becoming increasingly popular. However, unless careful attention is paid to proper design and maintenance, the radiation field inside a tanning booth can be highly anisotropic. The use of simple, inexpensive ultraviolet radiation meters to measure dosage can lead to serious overexposure. Since the ultraviolet radiation inside a tanning booth has a greater proportion of short wavelengths (less than 300 nanometers) than natural sunlight, the amount of skin cancer-inducing radiation received for a tan may be twice that received for a natural suntan

[en] Light-dark (L-D) synchronized Chlamydomonas grow during a 12-hr light period and divide by a series of mitoses into 4 or 8 daughter cells during the early part of the following 12-hr dark period. Sensitivity to the lethal effects of 9108 R X-irradiation varies throughout the L-D cycle. Mortality rises from 20 percent at the 1st hour to 40 percent at the 9th hour, to 70 percent at the onset of the dark; it reaches a peak of about 85 percent at about the 14th hour, just before the first cytokinesis, and then returns to a level of about 45 percent when cell division has been completed (after data correction for multiplicity of targets per colony-forming unit). Most lethally affected cells complete at least one set of divisions (into 4 or 8 daughter cells) before they die; however, exposure shortly before the first nuclear division results in two sets of divisions before death, suggesting that these cells were committed in some way at the time of irradiation to divide again 24 hr later. Some single cells exposed prior to cytokinesis exhibit mixed-colony formation: About half of their progeny die and half survive, indicating that prior to cytokinesis there are perhaps two radiation-sensitive ''targets'' per cell

[en] Light-dark (L-D) synchronized Chlamydomonas reinhardi were x-irradiated (9108 R) early in the dark period as cells were preparing for or undergoing division. Division delay data were recorded both in terms of the entire population of cells and in terms of cells progressing to form either 4- or 8-celled clones. The lack of division delay exhibited by these cells is striking. The greatest delay among 4's was a 2.2-hr delay in their final division after irradiation at the 14th hour. The greatest delays in 8's were 2.3 and 2.4 hr in their final divisions after irradiation at the 13th and 14th hours. Such delays are small compared to delays induced in other cells by exposures leading to comparable survival levels

[en] The current radiation protection guidelines of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were recommended in 1970. The career limit was set at 4.0 Sv (400 rem). Using the same approach as in 1970 but current risk estimates, a considerably lower career limit would obtain today. Also, there is now much more information about the radiation environments that will be experienced in different missions. Furthermore, since 1970 women have joined the ranks of the astronauts. For these and other reasons, it was considered necessary to re-examine the radiation protection guidelines. This task has been undertaken by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Scientific Committee 75. Within the magnetosphere, the radiation environment varies with altitude and inclination of the orbit. In outer space missions, galactic cosmic rays, with the small but important heavy-ion component, determine the radiation environment. The new recommendations for career dose limits, based on lifetime excess risk of cancer mortality, take into account age at first exposure and sex. The career limits range from 1.0 Sv (100 rem) for a 24-y-old female up to 4.0 Sv (400 rem) for a 55-y-old male, compared with the previous single limit of 4.0 Sv (400 rem). The career limit for the lens of the eye has been reduced from 6.0 Sv (600 rem) to 4.0 Sv (400 rem)

[en] Published in summary form only

[en] New limits on Astronaut radiation exposure are presented. These limits are in radiation protection and measurement (NCRP)