Deep space environments for human exploration Original Research Article

Mission scenarios outside the Earthʹs protective magnetic shield are being studied. Included are high usage assets in the near-Earth environment for casual trips, for research, and for commercial/operational platforms, in which career exposures will be multi-mission determined over the astronautʹs lifetime. The operational platforms will serve as launching points for deep space exploration missions, characterized by a single long-duration mission during the astronautʹs career. The exploration beyond these operational platforms will include missions to planets, asteroids, and planetary satellites. The interplanetary environment is evaluated using convective diffusion theory. Local environments for each celestial body are modeled by using results from the most recent targeted spacecraft, and integrated into the design environments. Design scenarios are then evaluated for these missions. The underlying assumptions in arriving at the model environments and their impact on mission exposures within various shield materials will be discussed.