Matryoshka (radiation measurement)

Matryoshka (after the Russian wooden dolls of the same name , English Matroshka ) is the name of an experiment by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to measure the radiation exposure of a person on the International Space Station (ISS) in 300 km altitude.

Matryoshka is a human-sized phantom that can be dismantled into slices , the components of which show a similar sensitivity to radiation as the organs of a human being. It weighs 68 kg, is 1.1 m high and has a diameter of 60 cm. It contains real human bones and plastics that mimic the absorption behavior of human organs. Approx. 600 sensors are embedded in the panes. An outer carbon fiber structure envelops the phantom. It is surrounded by an oxygen atmosphere.

The matryoshka doll was transported to the ISS on January 24, 2004 with a Progress spaceship and installed outside the ISS from March 15, 2004 to August 18, 2005, in order to measure the radiation exposure there (MTR-1). From December 2005, measurements continued inside the ISS (MTR-2). The phantom returned to Earth in 2009.

Due to the combination of different particle and photon radiation with different energies and linear energy transfer (LET), dosimetry in space is difficult; the body is not loaded homogeneously. Outside of the ward, the Matryoshka phantom received 0.9 mGy / d on the surface (skin) and 0.2-0.4 mGy / d in the area of the deeper organs. The equivalent dose was 1.3 m Sv / d outside the ward and approx. 0.5 mSv / d inside; much of the exposure arose during the times of passage through the South Atlantic Anomaly . For comparison: the natural background radiation on the earth's surface in Germany is approx. 0.006 mSv / d.

Web links

News from the space phantom - the matryoshka experiment continues. ESA website, November 1, 2005

Factsheet on the Matryoshka experiment (pdf, 5.1 MB)

From the TV show All Tag auf Phoenix about the Matryoshka experiment

Individual evidence

^ Jan Dettmann / ESA: Matroshka. Measuring Radiation Hazards for Spacewalkers. (PDF; 99 kB) on Station No. 13, June 2003
↑ The Phantom Torso Returns. NASA Science News, May 27, 2009
↑ G. Reitz, T. Berger, et al .: Astronaut's organ doses inferred from measurements in a human phantom outside the international space station. In: Radiation research. Volume 171, Number 2, February 2009, pp. 225-235, ISSN 0033-7587 . doi: 10.1667 / RR1559.1 . PMID 19267549 .
↑ T. Berger, G. Reitz, et al. / DLR: MATROSHKA - Overview of 2004–2005. (PDF; 7.7 MB) 10th Workshop on Radiation Monitoring for the International Space Station, Chiba 7. – 9. September 2005

[1] Jan Dettmann / ESA: Matroshka. Measuring Radiation Hazards for Spacewalkers. (PDF; 99 kB) on Station No. 13, June 2003

[2] The Phantom Torso Returns. NASA Science News, May 27, 2009

[PMID19267549-3] G. Reitz, T. Berger, et al .: Astronaut's organ doses inferred from measurements in a human phantom outside the international space station. In: Radiation research. Volume 171, Number 2, February 2009, pp. 225-235, ISSN 0033-7587 . doi: 10.1667 / RR1559.1 . PMID 19267549 .

[4] T. Berger, G. Reitz, et al. / DLR: MATROSHKA - Overview of 2004–2005. (PDF; 7.7 MB) 10th Workshop on Radiation Monitoring for the International Space Station, Chiba 7. – 9. September 2005