R3D-B2 – Measurement of ionizing and solar radiation in open space in the BIOPAN 5 facility outside the FOTON M2 satellite

• Published in: Advances in space research Vol. 43; no. 8; pp. 1200 - 1211
• Main Authors: Häder, D.-P., Richter, P., Schuster, M., Dachev, Ts, Tomov, B., Georgiev, Pl, Matviichuk, Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15-04-2009
• Subjects: Biopan facility; Cosmic ionizing radiation; Extraterrestrial radiation; Foton satellite; Solar radiation; UV radiation; UV radiation; Extraterrestrial radiation; Solar radiation; Biopan facility; Cosmic ionizing radiation; Foton satellite
• ISSN: 0273-1177; 1879-1948
• DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2009.01.021

Solar and space radiation have been monitored using the R3D-B2 radiation risks radiometer-dosimeter on board a recent space flight on the Russian satellite Foton M2 within the ESA Biopan 5 facility mounted on the outside of the satellite exposed to space conditions. The solar radiation has been assayed in four wavelength bands (UV-C, 170–280
nm, UV-B, 280–315
nm), UV-A (315–400
nm) and PAR (photosynthetic active radiation, 400–700
nm). The data show an increasing tumbling rotation of the satellite during the mission. The photodiodes do not show a cosine response to the incident light which has been corrected. After calibration of the signals using the extraterrestrial spectrum, doses have been calculated for each orbit, for each day and for the total mission as basic data for the biological material which has been exposed in parallel in the Biopan facility. Cosmic ionizing radiation has been monitored and separated in 256 deposited energy spectra, which were further used for determination of the absorbed dose rate and flux. Basic data tables were prepared to be used by other Biopan 5 experiments. The paper summarizes the results for the Earth radiation environment at the altitude (262–304
km) of the Foton M2 spacecraft. Comparisons with the predictions of NASA Earth radiation environment experimental models AE-8 and AP-8, and the PSB97 model are also presented, which calculate the fluxes of ionizing radiation from a simulation. AP-8 is a model for trapped radiation.