As long or as short, it has been 62 years since the first human being in space has orbited the Earth. Seven years later, the first human landed on the moon. Though as of now, it will be no less than 56 years later, in 2025, when crew members on the Artemis III mission are scheduled to revisit the surface of our closest neighbour. A “back to the future” was almost immediately found in the media after the goal was announced a long time ago. However, even today, it is not an exaggeration to describe the effort to explore space by humans as the “dawn of a new age.” This, when it comes to the contemporary ambitions to reach out for human presence on the moon and to travel to Mars.
Novel strategies for dealing with the adverse effects of space are prompting research, including and especially for ionizing effects and strategies for their optimization. Ensuring the health and well-being of the crew to enable mission success and minimize or ‘optimize’ risk remains a sine qua non. When we consider the most complex technological structure ever built by humans, the International Space Station, and more than 20 years of human presence in space, we should never forget that despite all these incredible achievements, space itself is not a forgiving environment, especially when it comes to the physiological needs of humans. Not to forget that there is nothing wrong with calling ISS really close to home. On the contrary, it is key, allowing for such superb capabilities of supply or rescue if necessary. This finally allows us to have an extended test “in real (near) space” and to prepare for the challenge of traveling to destinations “beyond”.
Venturing beyond the protective layers of low Earth orbit into deep space and onto the surfaces of celestial bodies other than our home planet Earth is plainly something that requires more than all of our attention. It requires us to adequately address unprecedented challenges while still finding workable solutions. Radiation in space was called out to be one of the “red risks” for exploration, underscoring its prominent role among the known hazards to humans in space. Human health monitoring, i.e., health surveillance and maintenance, including crew dosimetry, has been conducted since the early days of human spaceflight. Environmental monitoring, including mapping and modelling, provides a differentiated understanding of environmental conditions, but also urges caution and warnings for crew in-flight to take preventive action when necessary. However, passive dosimetry, with all its advantages (small, lightweight, robust dosimeters, solid experience with a wealth of data and knowledge) cannot remain the “gold standard” for crew personal dosimetry when it comes to deep space missions extending over a period of years (see Fig. 1).
Figure 1.
Members of the ICRP Task Group 115 (Risk and Dose Assessment for Radiological Protection of Astronauts) together with the astronaut Matthias Maurer. From left to right: Ulrich Straube, Werner Rühm, Matthias Maurer and Marco Durante (Image with permission by Matthias Maurer).
Consequently, a new area of personal dosimetry has already been introduced with small active personal dosimeters that allow near real-time measurement of personal dose, dose rate, data display, storage, and data transmission, and are in operational testing. Hence, we, the community behind this special issue, are convinced that it is the right time to reach out to our distinguished readers to provide an interesting, first-class insight into the subject.
This special issue provides you with an excellent introduction to the current state of developments in the measurement and analysis of ionizing radiation from space; aspects of radiation research and protection to safely guide humans on their way into deep space and to the surface of celestial bodies.