Space radiation more hazardous: Implications for astronauts and satellites

Science Daily  March 15, 2018
According to a team of researchers in the US (University of New Hampshire, NASA Ames Research Center, The Aerospace Corporation, Harvard University, University of Tennessee, Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Michigan, industry), for most of the space age, the sun’s activity ebbed and flowed like clockwork in 11-year cycles. However, starting around 2006, scientists observed the longest solar minimum and weakest solar activity observed during the space age. Despite this overall reduction, the September 2017 solar eruptions produced episodes of significant Solar Particle Events and associated radiation caused by particle acceleration by successive, magnetically well-connected coronal mass ejections. The researchers conclude that the radiation environment continues to pose significant hazards associated both with historically large galactic cosmic ray fluxes and large but isolated Solar Energetic Particle events, which still challenge space weather prediction capabilities… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE