High-Accuracy Simulations of the ISS Radiation Environment and Applications to Interplanetary Manned Missions

Radiation shielding is of primary importance in the planning of new interplanetary manned missions, and the ISS represents the largest laboratory for radiation shielding in space ever built. The ISS radiation environment has been thoroughly characterised by the Monte Carlo-based high-energy physics toolkit Geant4. It has been found that the ISS structure is quite effective at shielding from most forms of radiation, largely due to its internal arrangement. The internal environment found is consistent with literature values and astronaut dosimetry, and results indicate that the internal arrangement of a spacecraft may be the key to the radiation environment within it. Simulation results are also presented for the interplanetary case, including detailed comparisons with other codes. Guidelines for interplanetary manned mission design are presented using these findings.