Decreasing Astronaut Radiation Doses with Magnetic Shields

The danger posed by chronic exposure to the deep space radiation environment is one of the most significant impediments to extended crewed missions beyond LEO that present countermeasures are incapable of mitigating, and radiation countermeasures are identified as a 2024 Civil Space Shortfall (AHS-1527) that all stakeholder groups rated among the most critical. Active magnetic radiation shields based on the Lorentz deflection of charged particles have been studied as a potential countermeasure for crew radiation exposure since the Apollo Era, but historically have been considered infeasible due to superconductor performance limitations. In the last five years, major advancements in superconductor performance in concert with other subsystem-level advancements significantly improve the mass-normalized performance of active shielding systems. This proposal puts forth a number of research thrusts aimed at advancing the TRL of active magnetic shields from 2 to 3. An analytical shield evaluation model developed in 2014 will be updated to account for all recent subsystem performance improvements, and underlying assumptions of the model will be quantified and corrected. This updated model will be used to characterize the design trade space of solenoidal shields to enable the identification of optimal designs. The model will then be extended to encompass hybrid magnetic-passive shielding systems to further extend the design trade space. Finally, a number of factors relating to system longevity in space environments will be studied, including the effect of solar and galactic radiation on superconductor performance over time, a derivation of the system's micrometeoroid shielding requirements, and the effects of thermal surface degradation associated with surface fouling and material decay.

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