Newly developing methodologies to investigate health hazards posed by ionizing radiation to human space missions
Ferrari, F.; Szuszkiewicz, E.
Show abstract
Ionizing radiation is one of the main threats to human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit (BLEO). It is thus of primary importance to determine safe career dose limits for astronauts involved in BLEO missions. In the first part of this work it is shown how the methods of physics and statistics can contribute to its solution. The average equivalent doses received by a hypothetical human crew are established using the data of several robotic missions to the Moon and to Mars. The probabilities of the occurrence of deterministic effects due to radiation that could impair the success of a mission or lower the life expectancy of astronauts are evaluated with the help of a statistical analysis. In the last part of this work it is argued that the use of the so-called 3D models or organoids combined with the methods of precision oncology and molecular medicine could be a good candidate of a strategy in order to predict the insurgence of stochastic effects in humans. On one side, organoids recapitulate several features of the real human organs and their in vivo surroundings. On the other side, we argue with a case study that precision oncology and molecular medicine are able to provide a deeper insight of the onset of cancer following irradiation in space.
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