ISSUES IN-SPACE RADIATION PROTECTION - GALACTIC COSMIC-RAYS

When shielding from cosmic heavy ions, one is faced with limited knowl edge about the physical properties and biological responses of these r adiations. Herein, the current status of space shielding technology an d its impact on radiation health is discussed in terms of conventional protection practice and a test biological response model. The impact of biological response on optimum materials selection for cosmic ray s hielding is presented in terms of the transmission characteristics of the shield material. Although liquid hydrogen is an optimum shield mat erial, evaluation of the effectiveness of polymeric structural materia ls must await improvement in our knowledge of both the biological resp onse and the nuclear processes.