MODELING THE VARIATIONS OF DOSE RATE MEASURED BY RAD DURING THE FIRST MSL MARTIAN YEAR: 2012-2014

ABSTRACT The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), on board Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) rover Curiosity, measures the energy spectra of both energetic charged and neutral particles along with the radiation dose rate at the surface of Mars. With these first-ever measurements on the Martian su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2015-09, Vol.810 (1), p.1-10
Main Authors: Guo, Jingnan, Zeitlin, Cary, Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F., Rafkin, Scot, Hassler, Donald M., Posner, Arik, Heber, Bernd, Köhler, Jan, Ehresmann, Bent, Appel, Jan K., Böhm, Eckart, Böttcher, Stephan, Burmeister, Sönke, Brinza, David E., Lohf, Henning, Martin, Cesar, Kahanpää, H., Reitz, Günther
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
Charged particles
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COSMIC RADIATION
DAILY VARIATIONS
Dosage
DOSE RATES
Empirical analysis
ENERGY SPECTRA
instrumentation: detectors
MAGNETIC FIELDS
Mars atmosphere
MARS PLANET
Mars surface
Mathematical models
MODULATION
NEUTRAL PARTICLES
PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
RADIATION DOSES
ROTATION
SOLAR ACTIVITY
solar-terrestrial relations
SPACE VEHICLES
space vehicles: instruments
SUN
Surface chemistry
SURFACES
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Summary:ABSTRACT The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), on board Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) rover Curiosity, measures the energy spectra of both energetic charged and neutral particles along with the radiation dose rate at the surface of Mars. With these first-ever measurements on the Martian surface, RAD observed several effects influencing the galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) induced surface radiation dose concurrently: (a) short-term diurnal variations of the Martian atmospheric pressure caused by daily thermal tides, (b) long-term seasonal pressure changes in the Martian atmosphere, and (c) the modulation of the primary GCR flux by the heliospheric magnetic field, which correlates with long-term solar activity and the rotation of the Sun. The RAD surface dose measurements, along with the surface pressure data and the solar modulation factor, are analyzed and fitted to empirical models that quantitatively demonstrate how the long-term influences ((b) and (c)) are related to the measured dose rates. Correspondingly, we can estimate dose rate and dose equivalents under different solar modulations and different atmospheric conditions, thus allowing empirical predictions of the Martian surface radiation environment.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/810/1/24