Fabrication of Regolith-Derived Radiation Shields: Preliminary Results

Unlike the Earth, Mars and asteroids do not have a magnetosphere to protect humans, mechanisms and electronics from damaging Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and solar particle events (SPE). This presents one of the highest risks to crew and onboard electronics during interplanetary journeys. The goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of carbonaceous asteroids and other hydrogen-rich materials as potential radiation shielding materials, which ultimately could be tested during planned crewed missions to a captured asteroid fragment (ARM). This type of investigation represents an initial effort to develop radiation shield material compositions, production methods and technologies, and optimization methodology for manufacturing radiation shields in deep space for large exploration human missions or by emerging new industries seeking to stage their spacecraft for the exploitation of the resources of asteroids. Carbonaceous chondrites (C-type) are of particular interest as sources of compounds such as water ice and hydrogen-rich carbon molecules, which can provide sufficient low Z element density to provide radiation protection at adequate shield thicknesses.