Real-time measurement of low-energy-range neutron spectra on board the space shuttle STS-89 (S/MM-8)

Applicability of particle and heavy ion transport code PHITS to the shielding design of spacecrafts

“…4. The calculated spectrum for the corresponding thickness agrees with the experimental data fairly well, although the structure of the Table 1 Comparison between calculated and experimental neutron dose rates (Matsumoto et al, 2001) The calculated values were estimated from the neutron spectrum inside the imaginary vessel at the solar minimum. b The experimental values were obtained from the orbit-averaged neutron spectrum by applying the same dose conversion coefficients adopted in the derivation of the calculated doses.…”

“…The simulations to estimate the particle spectra inside spacecrafts were performed for reproducing the flight conditions of STS-89 and STS-91, in which the measurements of neutron spectra with Bonner ball neutron detector (BBND) (Matsumoto et al, 2001) and absorbed doses with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) in a human phantom (Badhwar et al, 2002;Yasuda et al, 2000) were carried out, respectively. The phantom and BBND were mounted in the SPACEHAB module loaded on the shuttle.…”

Measurements of Cosmic-Ray Neutron Energy Spectra from Thermal to 15 MeV with Bonner Ball Neutron Detector in Aircraft

“…For the low-energy-range measurement, we chose the Bonner Ball Neutron Detector (BBND) developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (now the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)). 16,17) The BBND has a standard Bonner ball energy range, and there is doubt regarding the accuracy of its high-energy-range measurement over 15 MeV. Therefore, the two spectrometers shared the measuring energy range; the BBND measured the low energy range from thermal to 15 MeV, and the phoswich detector measured the high energy range from 5 MeV to hundreds of MeV.…”

Dose calculations at high altitudes and in deep space with GEANT4 using BIC and JQMD models for nucleus–nucleus reactions

“…To certify the accuracy of the heavy ion physics models in PHITS, an extensive benchmarking is currently ongoing [44]- [55]. A neutron spectrum measured inside the Space Shuttle by the Bonner Ball Neutron Detector (BBND) during the STS-89 flight [71] has also been compared with the corresponding data calculated [72] using PHITS. The agreement between the calculations and the measurements has been satisfactory for space-shielding applications.…”