About Us
The goal of NASA's Space Radiation Program (SRP) is to enable humans to explore space without exceeding an acceptable level of risk from exposure to space radiation.
To achieve this goal, the SRP pursues a robust and active research program that encompasses biological, biomedical and radiation physics expertise to provide:
- Recommendations for space radiation permissible exposure limits for exploration missions
- Discovery of the mechanisms of biological effects from celestial radiation such as protons and heavy ions, including potential differences between celestial and terresterial radiation, such as X-rays or gamma-rays in producing biological effects
- Radiobiological data, projection models, and computational tools to assess and project astronauts risk of cancer, central nervous system and degenerative diseases, and acute radiation syndromes from space radiation
- Computational tools and models to project astronaut risk and to assess vehicle design for radiation protection
- Assessment of updated technologies if needed, for monitoring radiation exposure, and recommendations on technologies to be used operationally
- Uncertainty reductions to enable radiation protection design and crew constraints for lunar and Mars missions
- Discovery of biological countermeasures for space radiation risks, and the accurate assessment of the effectiveness of physical, biological, or biological countermeasures or mitigations
The purpose of this web site is to communicate news and to promote awareness of the SRP research program and activities. The web site is produced and managed by the Universities Space Research Association Division of Space Life Sciences.
