Potential for creation of artificial radiation belts during space testing of an NPB

Author

Hughes, Richard J. ; Cottingame, W.B.

Author_Institution

Los Alamos Nat. Lab., NM, USA

Volume

37

Issue

5

fYear

1990

fDate

10/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1555

Lastpage

1559

Abstract

Because of the potential for the charged effluence from an orbital neutral particle beam (NPB) system to become trapped in the Earth´s magnetic field, the creation of long-lived fluxes is possible. The circumstances that can lead to trapping of protons from an H⁰ NPB system operated at altitudes of 300-1000 km are considered. A first-order assessment of the flux levels and decay rates of the relic protons produced is presented. An NPB could significantly enhance the near-Earth radiation environment for up to several years, and as such could contributed to the radiation hazard

Keywords

aerospace biophysics; health hazards; ionosphere; particle beams; plasma; pollution; 300 to 1000 km; Earth´s magnetic field; H⁰; artificial radiation belts; charged effluence; health hazard; ionosphere; long-lived fluxes; near-Earth radiation environment; orbital neutral particle beam; plasma; pollution; radiation hazard; relic protons; Belts; Hazards; Helium; Magnetic fields; Particle beams; Production; Protons; Space charge; Space technology; System testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.58703

Filename

58703