ISS Crew Works With Radiation Experiment
Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit began their 15th week Monday aboard the International Space Station.Exp 6 Activities 3/10/2003
Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC

ISS Crew Works With Radiation Experiment
Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit began their 15th week Monday aboard the International Space Station.

Bowersox took a background measurement for the Extravehicular Activity Radiation Monitoring, or EVARM, experiment. Pettit began the day continuing troubleshooting efforts on the Destiny Laboratory's Microgravity Science Glovebox.

Routine activities on Monday included Budarin taking air samples in the Russian segment and performing a daily status check on Russian plant experiment. All three crewmembers performed their daily exercise.

Significance
The purpose of EVARM is to carry out flight experiments to characterize the radiation doses experienced by astronauts during extravehicular activity (EVA). These measurements will include doses to skin, eye, and blood-forming organs and will be carried out using a relatively new type of electronic radiation dosimeter, the Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET). This information will be important to the overall field of space radiation dosimetry by helping to determine which parts of the human body are exposed to the highest radiation levels, so that routine dosimetry monitoring in the future (e.g., during Space Station missions) will be done on the appropriate parts of the human body. In addition, the study will benefit future shielding designs, since it will characterize the radiation field inside the astronaut's suit.

Previous Missions
None. The MOSFET dosimeter flew on Mir.

Outreach Web Sites
SPORTs Page: A Study of Radiation Doses Experienced by Astronauts in EVA
NSBRI Radiation and Long-term Space Flight
NASA Fact Sheet: Astronauts in EVA Radiation Study (EVARM)
Critical Path Roadmap (Human Exploration and Development of Space)
Space Radiation Health Project
Space Environment Center (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Space Weather: A Research Perspective (tutorial from the National Research Council)

Other Radiation Experiments on Station
Bonner Ball Neutron Detector (BBND)
Chromosomal Aberrations in Blood Lymphocytes of Astronauts (Chromosome)
Dosimetric Mapping (DOSMAP)
Phantom Torso (Torso)