Is the radiation belt further out than the moon?
2007-07-30 09:47:42 · 8 answers · asked by mandy28227 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The Van Allen belts are closer than the moon, but astronauts and the electronic components of spacecraft can survive going through the belts because:
1. There is a lot of shielding on the spacecraft (scientists knew about the Van Allen belts and possible dangers before the first ships were even launched).
2. Spacecraft are in the Van Allen belts for a very short time and the astronauts receive a harmless dose of radiation. But NASA deliberately times spacecraft launches and uses lunar transfer orbits that only skirt the edge of the belt over the equator to minimize the radiation.
2007-07-30 14:30:04 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Scientific American had a pretty good article regarding the radiation hazards of space. They were describing a future potential trip to Mars which we all hope for someday. Since the distance is so great compared to that of the moon, there seems that doing it quickly is not an option.
So that leaves shielding and thus the weight problem. To give a reference point they stated that the shielding offered by earth's atmosphere is equivalent to five feet of water. They made it sound like we will not see this quite as quickly as implied.
I don't know, and they didn't say if a lead lined suit was feasible. They used to use lead lined apron's in the x-ray rooms of hospitals. My Dad was a Doc and had one and it must have weighed 15 or so pounds and only protected the front of your body in the trunk area.
I also think that one of the Appolo missions that made it to the moon had a very close call due to a solar flare. It erupted, if that's the right word, when astronauts were on the moons surface. I guess they took cover, so to speak, and survived but I understand there were some very nervous people.
2007-07-30 10:20:53 · answer #2 · answered by andyg77 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's a good question. There's actually a fair amount of radiation from the sun on the moon itself. The van Allen belts are fairly close to the earth:
"The inner zone is the proton belt (peak intensity at about 3000 kilometers from Earth's surface) and the outer zone the electron belt (peak intensity from about 12,000 to 22,000 kilometers from the surface). "
The whole trick is to try to spend as little time as you can up there, or figure out some sort of shielding. I believe that the radiation dosages determined the maximum length of our moon missions. The space station and shuttle orbit below the radiation belts.
It's not a trivial matter, and it's always been of some concern to anyone expecting us to survive for long periods in deep space. One rather bizzare proposal (thank NASA) is to have astronauts begin building shielding structures with whatever soil they're able to find on the Moon or wherever. That's right: they'll have to make bricks, like in Pithom and Ramses.
2007-07-30 09:59:30 · answer #3 · answered by 2n2222 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Van Allen radiation surrounds the Earth, and despite many fears, turned out not to be as big a problem as imagined. The secret was that the astronauts did not spend a long time in the radiatin field -- they whizzed through it at a pretty smart clip, minimizing their exposure!
There are three ways to minimize radiation exposure: time, distance, and shielding. Since the astronauts had to pass through the Van Allen belt, which completely surrounds the planet, they used time and shielding to protect themselves. They went through quickly, and used the shielding of the metal in the Command Module.
Turns out that their total dose exposure from the Van Allen belts coming and going was not much more than a chest X-ray or two, or perhaps a half-dozen dental X-rays. No big deal.
2007-07-30 10:11:01 · answer #4 · answered by Dave_Stark 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Val Allen radiation belt is close to the Earth. Our astronauts passed safely through the belt because they were well shielded by the skin of their spacecraft.
2007-07-30 09:56:32 · answer #5 · answered by Vince M 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It flew right through. What's the problem?
The Van Allen belt is composed of two distict electro-negative regions sandwiching a positively charged proton region. Its toroidal shape is about 40,000 miles thick, but presents no problem to astronauts navigating through it on the way to the Moon, 240,000 miles out.
2007-07-30 10:36:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
They didn't. Go watch Kuberick's Odyssey.
2014-07-13 13:40:55 · answer #7 · answered by Steven 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
difficult matter. research into google and yahoo. it can assist!
2014-10-30 21:20:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋