MSL-RAD radiation environment measurements
Abstract
In this study, results are presented from the on-board radiation assessment detector (RAD) of Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). RAD is designed to measure the energetic particle radiation environment, which consists of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) as well as secondary particles created by nuclear interactions of primary particles in the shielding (during cruise) or Martian soil and atmosphere (surface measurements). During the cruise, RAD collected data on space radiation from inside the craft, thus allowing for a reasonable estimation of what a human crew travelling to/from Mars might be exposed to. On the surface of Mars, RAD is shielded by the atmosphere (from above) and the planet itself (from below). RAD measures the first detailed radiation data from the surface of another planet, and they are highly relevant for planning future crewed missions. The results for radiation dose and dose equivalent (a quantity most directly related to human health risk) are presented during the cruise phase, as well as on the Martian surface. Dose and dose equivalent are dominated by the continuous GCR radiation, but several SEP events were also detected and are discussed here.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
RAD data showed dose-equivalent rates of 1.82 mSv/day during transit to Mars and 0.65 mSv/day at the surface.
“Thus, the RAD data showed the Curiosity Rover was exposed to the corresponding dose-equivalent rates of 1.82 mSv/day during transit to Mars and 0.65 mSv/day at the surface.”
From Medical countermeasures for the hematopoietic-subsyndrome of acute radiation syndrome in space (2022) · cites this paper as Guo et al., 2015
The “Quality factor and dose equivalent” section reports a cruise GCR dose-equivalent rate of 1.84 ± 0.33 mSv/day, while “Radiation measurements on Mars” reports about 0.64 ± 0.12 mSv/day at the surface (page numbers are not specified in the indexed passages). These support the settings and approximate magnitudes, but neither quoted central value—1.82 or 0.65 mSv/day—is the value this paper reports. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe average quality factor Q(L) based on the measured LET spectrum was 3.1 ± 0.3 on the Martian surface compared to 3.8 ± 0.3 during cruise.
“The average quality factor Q(L) based on the measured LET spectrum was found to be 3.1 ± 0.3 on the Martian surface compared to 3.8 ± 0.3 measured during cruise.”
From Medical countermeasures for the hematopoietic-subsyndrome of acute radiation syndrome in space (2022) · cites this paper as Guo et al., 2015
The “Quality factor and dose equivalent” section reports a cruise quality factor of about 3.82 ± 0.25 from the LET spectrum, consistent with the quoted 3.8 ± 0.3 after rounding. The “Radiation measurements on Mars” section gives surface dose and dose-equivalent rates whose ratio is approximately 3.1, but our copy does not explicitly report a surface LET-based quality factor of 3.1 ± 0.3. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Mars' surface radiation environment measured with the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover
Hassler, D. M., Zeitlin, C., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Ehresmann, B., Rafkin, S., Eigenbrode, J. L., Brinza, D. E., Weigle, G., Böttcher, S., Böhm, E., et al. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1244797 · Cited by 690 · cited 5× · see citing works
“RAD has collected radiation measurements during its cruise to Mars((4)) and now on the surface of Mars((5)).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationMeasurements of energetic particle radiation in transit to Mars on the Mars Science Laboratory
Zeitlin, C., Hassler, D. M., Cucinotta, F. A., Ehresmann, B., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Brinza, D. E., Kang, S., Weigle, G., Böttcher, S., Böhm, E., et al. (2013) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1235989 · Cited by 641 · cited 9× · see citing works
“RAD has collected radiation measurements during its cruise to Mars((4)) and now on the surface of Mars((5)).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationThe Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) Investigation
Hassler, D. M., Zeitlin, C., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Böttcher, S., Martin, C., Andrews, J., Böhm, E., Brinza, D. E., Bullock, M. A., Burmeister, S., et al. (2012) · Space Science Reviews · doi:10.1007/s11214-012-9913-1 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Self-citationMeasurements of the neutron spectrum on the Martian surface with MSL/RAD
Köhler, J., Zeitlin, C., Ehresmann, B., Wimmer‐Schweingruber, R. F., Hassler, D. M., Reitz, G., Brinza, D. E., Weigle, G., Appel, J., Böttcher, S., et al. (2014) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets · doi:10.1002/2013je004539 · Cited by 71 · cited 2× · see citing works
“(3), an inversion method is used to reconstruct the neutron spectra on the surface of Mars and estimated the resulting neutron dose to be 14 + 4 mGy d(21) and a dose equivalent rate of 61 + 15 mGy d(21).”
MethodSelf-citationRafkin, S. C. R., Zeitlin, C., Ehresmann, B., Hassler, D., Guo, J., Köhler, J., Wimmer‐Schweingruber, R., Gomez‐Elvira, J., Harri, A., Kahanpää, H., et al. (2014) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets · doi:10.1002/2013je004525 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- O'Neill, P. M. Badhwar-O'Neill 2010 galactic cosmic ray flux model-revised. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 57, 3148 (2010).
- Boynton, W. V. et al. The mars odyssey gamma-ray spec- trometer instrument suite. In: 2001 Mars Odyssey. Springer Netherlands, pp. 37-83 (2004).
- Go ´mez-Elvira, J. et al. REMS: the environmental sensor suite for the Mars Science Laboratory Rover. Space Sci. Rev. 170(1-4), 583-640 (2012).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Space Weather on the Surface of Mars: Impact of the September 2017 Events
Hassler, D. M., Zeitlin, C., Ehresmann, B., Wimmer‐Schweingruber, R. F., Guo, J., Matthiä, D., Rafkin, S., Berger, T., & Reitz, G. (2018) · Space Weather · doi:10.1029/2018sw001959 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Self-citationMedical countermeasures for the hematopoietic-subsyndrome of acute radiation syndrome in space
Kernagis, D. N., Balcer-Kubiczek, E., Bazyar, S., Orschell, C. M., & Jackson, I. L. (2022) · Life Sciences in Space Research · doi:10.1016/j.lssr.2022.06.002 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Guo, J., Zeitlin, C., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Hassler, D. M., Ehresmann, B., Köhler, J., Böhm, E., Böttcher, S., Brinza, D., Burmeister, S., Cucinotta, F., Martin, C., Posner, A., Rafkin, S., & Reitz, G.
- Affiliations
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Southwest Research Institute (US)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Guo, Jingnan
- ORCID
- Venue
- Radiation Protection Dosimetry
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-05-11
- Volume
- 166
- Issue
- 1-4
- Pages
- 290-294
- ISSN
- 0144-8420 (ISSN-L)
- 1742-3406
- OpenAlex
- W2342601616
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 1.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Radiation Protection Dosimetry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- elib (German Aerospace Center) (acceptedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Radiation Effects in Electronics
- Keywords
- Mars Science Laboratory, galactic cosmic rays, solar energetic particles, space radiation, radiation dose, dose equivalent, human Mars missions
- MeSH terms
- Cosmic Radiation, Environmental Exposure, Extraterrestrial Environment, Humans, Models, Theoretical, Radiation Protection, Space Flight, Occupational Exposure, Astronauts, Mars, Risk Assessment, Solar Activity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
