Measurements of the neutral particle spectra on Mars by MSL/RAD from 2015-11-15 to 2016-01-15
Open accessAbstract
The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity, has been measuring the energetic charged and neutral particles and the radiation dose rate on the surface of Mars since the landing of the rover in August 2012. In contrast to charged particles, neutral particles (neutrons and γ-rays) are measured indirectly: the energy deposition spectra produced by neutral particles are complex convolutions of the incident particle spectra with the detector response functions. An inversion technique has been developed and applied to jointly unfold the deposited energy spectra measured in two scintillators of different types (CsI for high γ detection efficiency, and plastic for neutrons) to obtain the neutron and γ-ray spectra. This result is important for determining the biological impact of the Martian surface radiation contributed by neutrons, which interact with materials differently from the charged particles. These first in-situ measurements on Mars provide (1) an important reference for assessing the radiation-associated health risks for future manned missions to the red planet and (2) an experimental input for validating the particle transport codes used to model the radiation environments within spacecraft or on the surface of planets. Here we present neutral particle spectra as well as the corresponding dose and dose equivalent rates derived from RAD measurement during a period (November 15, 2015 to January 15, 2016) for which the surface particle spectra have been simulated via different transport models.
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Neutron spectra for two different periods in the Mars surface mission have been obtained; the latter is considered more accurate than the earlier one, in which counting rates were overestimated due to an error in one correction factor.
“Neutron spectra for two different periods in the Mars surface mission have been obtained (Ko ¨hler et al. 2014;Guo et al. 2017b); we consider the latter to be more accurate than the earlier one, in which counting rates were overestimated due to an error in one of the correction factors that was applied to the raw data.”
From Radiation environment for future human exploration on the surface of Mars: the current understanding based on MSL/RAD dose measurements (2021) · cites this paper as Guo et al. 2017b
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Guo, J., Zeitlin, C., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Hassler, D. M., Ehresmann, B., Rafkin, S., Freiherr von Forstner, J. L., Khaksarighiri, S., Liu, W., & Wang, Y. (2021) · The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review · doi:10.1007/s00159-021-00136-5 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Guo, J., Zeitlin, C., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R., Hassler, D. M., Köhler, J., Ehresmann, B., Böttcher, S., Böhm, E., & Brinza, D. E.
- Affiliations
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Johnson Space Center (US)
- Southwest Research Institute (US)
- Thales (Germany) (DE)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- Corresponding author
- Guo, Jingnan
- Venue
- Life Sciences in Space Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-08
- Volume
- 14
- Pages
- 12-17
- ISSN
- 2214-5524 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2636350624
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Life Sciences in Space Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (50QM0501, 50QM1201)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1273039)
- California Institute of Technology
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Southwest Research Institute
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Radiation › Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
- Keywords
- neutron energy spectrum, gamma-ray spectra, Radiation Assessment Detector, Curiosity rover, energy deposition spectra, spectral unfolding, CsI scintillator, plastic scintillators, dose rate, dose equivalent rate, radiation transport models, Mars
- MeSH terms
- Cosmic Radiation, Humans, Neutrons, Radiation Monitoring, Radiation Protection, Time Factors, Occupational Exposure, Astronauts, Mars, Risk Assessment
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