Spaceflight medical countermeasures: a strategic approach for mitigating effects from solar particle events
Open accessAbstract
NASA was recently charged with returning humans to the lunar surface within the next five years. This will require preparation for spaceflight missions of longer distance and duration than ever performed in the past. Protecting the crew and mission from the hazards associated with spaceflight will be a priority. One of the primary hazards to address is the challenging radiation environment. Space is unforgiving when it comes to radiation. There is galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) that is pervasive in space and the possibility of solar particle events (SPE) that release high energy particles from the sun that can result in high doses of radiation to the crew if unprotected. NASA has been preparing and evaluating several means of ensuring that crew health is not compromised during these missions. Physical shielding, space weather monitoring, and more recently storm shelters are all possible means of protecting crew during a SPE. Medical countermeasures have not been necessary for operations in low Earth orbit; however, future human exploration missions should consider including therapies onboard to address radiation-induced health effects. While the likelihood of experiencing a significant SPE is very low, serious adverse health effects or even death could occur if no medical countermeasures were available. Having a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medical countermeasure on board that could mitigate acute radiation-induced hematopoietic syndrome due to a SPE could provide life saving measures for the crew. This paper discusses the mitigation strategies that can be implemented for Artemis missions and identifies numerous areas of research for future improvements.
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In this dose range, acute radiation syndrome with the hematopoietic system as main target can be expected.
“In this dose range, acute radiation syndrome with the hematopoietic system as main target can be expected31.”
From Towards sustainable human space exploration—priorities for radiation research to quantify and mitigate radiation risks (2023) · cites this paper as [31]
The “Treatments for hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome (H-ARS)” section says H-ARS can occur at relatively low doses and that bone marrow may be compromised at doses as low as 0.5 Gy. It describes H-ARS as a concern, however, rather than establishing that it can be expected throughout the unspecified dose range in the citing sentence. The supplied copy does not give a page number for this passage. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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- Authors
- Carnell, L. S.
- Affiliations
- Langley Research Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Carnell, Lisa S.
- Venue
- International Journal of Radiation Biology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-10-14
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- sup1
- Pages
- S125-S131
- ISSN
- 0955-3002 (ISSN-L)
- 1362-3095
- OpenAlex
- W3087623106
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 1.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Radiation Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Effects of Radiation Exposure
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Spaceflight effects on biology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Keywords
- solar energetic particle events, medical countermeasures, space radiation, galactic cosmic rays, Artemis missions, lunar exploration, space weather monitoring, radiation shielding, storm shelters, FDA-approved therapies
- MeSH terms
- Medical Countermeasures, Cosmic Radiation, Humans, Radiation Dosage, Space Flight, Solar Activity, Acute Radiation Syndrome
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