The Cosmic Ray Radiation Dose in Interplanetary Space - Present Day and Worst-Case Evaluations

Abstract

A physics-based cosmic-ray transport model has been fit to solar-minimum and solar-maximum cosmic ray spectra and used for preliminary evaluations of the radiation dose and dose-equivalent of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). We find a solar-minimum radiation dose-equivalent somewhat lower than previous estimates, with a smaller difference between solar minimum and solar maximum. Measurements of Be-10 in polar ice cores and other data show that the cosmic-ray intensity was significantly higher 50 to 100 years ago. The estimated radiation levels during these earlier periods were up to ~ 1.7 times greater than during recent solar minima.

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