scholarly journals Space Radiation Protection Countermeasures in Microgravity and Planetary Exploration

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 829
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Montesinos ◽  
Radina Khalid ◽  
Octav Cristea ◽  
Joel S. Greenberger ◽  
Michael W. Epperly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Radiation Protection ◽  
Immune Modulation ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Radiation Risk ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Space Radiation ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Mission Design ◽  
Mission Duration

Background: Space radiation is one of the principal environmental factors limiting the human tolerance for space travel, and therefore a primary risk in need of mitigation strategies to enable crewed exploration of the solar system. Methods: We summarize the current state of knowledge regarding potential means to reduce the biological effects of space radiation. New countermeasure strategies for exploration-class missions are proposed, based on recent advances in nutrition, pharmacologic, and immune science. Results: Radiation protection can be categorized into (1) exposure-limiting: shielding and mission duration; (2) countermeasures: radioprotectors, radiomodulators, radiomitigators, and immune-modulation, and; (3) treatment and supportive care for the effects of radiation. Vehicle and mission design can augment the overall exposure. Testing in terrestrial laboratories and earth-based exposure facilities, as well as on the International Space Station (ISS), has demonstrated that dietary and pharmacologic countermeasures can be safe and effective. Immune system modulators are less robustly tested but show promise. Therapies for radiation prodromal syndrome may include pharmacologic agents; and autologous marrow for acute radiation syndrome (ARS). Conclusions: Current radiation protection technology is not yet optimized, but nevertheless offers substantial protection to crews based on Lunar or Mars design reference missions. With additional research and human testing, the space radiation risk can be further mitigated to allow for long-duration exploration of the solar system.

scholarly journals LOH Analyses for Biological Effects of Space Radiation: Human Cell Culture in "Kibo" of International Space Station

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumio Yatagai ◽  
Akihisa Takahashi ◽  
Masamitsu Honma ◽  
Hiromi Suzuki ◽  
Katsunori Omori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Culture ◽  
International Space Station ◽  
Human Cell ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Space Radiation ◽  
Human Cell Culture ◽  
International Space

scholarly journals Space Radiation Biology for “Living in Space”

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Furukawa ◽  
Aiko Nagamatsu ◽  
Mitsuru Nenoi ◽  
Akira Fujimori ◽  
Shizuko Kakinuma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Space Radiation ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Radiation Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Space Travel ◽  
Novel Technologies

Space travel has advanced significantly over the last six decades with astronauts spending up to 6 months at the International Space Station. Nonetheless, the living environment while in outer space is extremely challenging to astronauts. In particular, exposure to space radiation represents a serious potential long-term threat to the health of astronauts because the amount of radiation exposure accumulates during their time in space. Therefore, health risks associated with exposure to space radiation are an important topic in space travel, and characterizing space radiation in detail is essential for improving the safety of space missions. In the first part of this review, we provide an overview of the space radiation environment and briefly present current and future endeavors that monitor different space radiation environments. We then present research evaluating adverse biological effects caused by exposure to various space radiation environments and how these can be reduced. We especially consider the deleterious effects on cellular DNA and how cells activate DNA repair mechanisms. The latest technologies being developed, e.g., a fluorescent ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator, to measure real-time cell cycle progression and DNA damage caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation are presented. Progress in examining the combined effects of microgravity and radiation to animals and plants are summarized, and our current understanding of the relationship between psychological stress and radiation is presented. Finally, we provide details about protective agents and the study of organisms that are highly resistant to radiation and how their biological mechanisms may aid developing novel technologies that alleviate biological damage caused by radiation. Future research that furthers our understanding of the effects of space radiation on human health will facilitate risk-mitigating strategies to enable long-term space and planetary exploration.

scholarly journals Flying Without a Net: Space Radiation Cancer Risk Predictions without a Gamma-Ray Basis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis A Cucinotta
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Risk ◽  
Gamma Rays ◽  
Heavy Ions ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Liver Tumors ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Radiation Risk ◽  
Space Radiation ◽  
Prediction Approach

It is well known that the spatial distribution of ionization in cells and tissue from heavy ions and other high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation leads to qualitative and quantitative differences in biological effects compared to low LET radiation such as gamma-rays. However, models used to estimate risks involve extensive use of gamma-ray data, including low LET radiation epidemiology, the role of gamma-rays in estimates of quality factors (QF), and the dose and dose-rate reduction effectiveness factor (DDREF). In tumor induction studies, high LET radiation typically have demonstrable dose responses in many animal strains and tissue, while gamma-ray exposures often lead to a weak or poorly determined dose response at low to moderate doses (<2 Gy) leading to large uncertainties in QF estimates. Here we consider an alternate risk prediction approach, avoiding low epidemiology, the QF and DDREF, by formulating a fluence based track structure model of excess relative risk (ERR) with parameters estimated from animal studies with heavy ions and neutrons for the induction for lung and breast cancer in females and liver cancer in males. The ERR model is applied directly with cancer rates for the US population to predict lifetime risks to astronauts at solar minimum. Results for male liver and female breast cancer risk show that the ERR model agrees fairly well with estimates of a QF model with estimates of non-targeted effects (NTE), and is about 2-fold higher than the QF model that ignores NTE. The effective damage area derived by the ERR model for breast and liver tumors is several times that of a mammalian cell nucleus, which suggests NTE likely contribute to cancer risk. For female lung cancer risk, the ERR model predicts 2-fold and 5-fold lower risk compared to the QF models with or without NTE, respectively. We suggest that the direct ERR approach when coupled with improved experimental models of tissue specific cancers representing human risks would lead to large reductions in the uncertainties in space radiation risk projections by avoiding low LET uncertainties.

scholarly journals Predicting chromosome damage in astronauts participating in international space station missions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Feiveson ◽  
Kerry George ◽  
Mark Shavers ◽  
Maria Moreno-Villanueva ◽  
Ye Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Space Station ◽  
Dose Response ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Space Radiation ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
International Space ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Subject Specific

AbstractSpace radiation consists of energetic protons and other heavier ions. During the International Space Station program, chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes of astronauts have been analyzed to estimate received biological doses of space radiation. More specifically, pre-flight blood samples were exposed ex vivo to varying doses of gamma rays, while post-flight blood samples were collected shortly and several months after landing. Here, in a study of 43 crew-missions, we investigated whether individual radiosensitivity, as determined by the ex vivo dose–response of the pre-flight chromosome aberration rate (CAR), contributes to the prediction of the post-flight CAR incurred from the radiation exposure during missions. Random-effects Poisson regression was used to estimate subject-specific radiosensitivities from the preflight dose–response data, which were in turn used to predict post-flight CAR and subject-specific relative biological effectiveness (RBEs) between space radiation and gamma radiation. Covariates age, gender were also considered. Results indicate that there is predictive value in background CAR as well as radiosensitivity determined preflight for explaining individual differences in post-flight CAR over and above that which could be explained by BFO dose alone. The in vivo RBE for space radiation was estimated to be approximately 3 relative to the ex vivo dose response to gamma irradiation. In addition, pre-flight radiosensitivity tended to be higher for individuals having a higher background CAR, suggesting that individuals with greater radiosensitivity can be more sensitive to other environmental stressors encountered in daily life. We also noted that both background CAR and radiosensitivity tend to increase with age, although both are highly variable. Finally, we observed no significant difference between the observed CAR shortly after mission and at > 6 months post-mission.

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